Seeing Through The Mist
by WildPowerxJ
Summary: What happens when Leo and Nico bring their fight to the mall one day and encounter two girls with the ability to se through the mist? What fabulas adventures await them? You're not going to find out unless you read, so go ahead! Click on it! :P
1. Chapter 1

_**yey! it's me back again with a hero's of Olympus fanfic! anyway this is gonna be an ongoing story so when people review, I will post. hope you like it! **_

_**oh, and just letting you know that this isn't really set in any particular time in according to the book... just sort of ignore how the books are while you read this :) it'll make more sense that way.**_

_**disclaimer: anything that sounds familiar to you IS NOT MINE! like nico and leo for instance... :(**_

Seeing Through The Mist

**Chapter 1**

"Can't you go any faster?"

"Don't you think if I could pull a rocket booster from my tool belt, I would? Besides, can't you just shadow travel us somewhere?"

"Already used that trick this morning, or don't you remember?"

"Oh, how could I forget that lovely experience…Quick! Into there!"

"Are you crazy?"

"Yes! Just do it man!"

**_Val's point of view_**

"Oooh! Val, look at this one!" squealed my best friend from behind a rack of clothes that had swallowed her up.

Her blond head popped up over top of the rack and she held aloft a cute grey tank top with a black skull design on it.

"It would look perfect on you."

She walked around the rack and held it up against me, considering how I would look in the top. I shook my bangs out of my eyes, glanced over in the nearby mirror and did as she was, frowning at my reflection. My long brown hair was standing on end from all the shirts I'd been pulling over my head to try on as per Clara's orders. I think the fact that she had helped me straighten my hair before we came here had just made it even more vulnerable to static electricity. I smoothed it down and glared at myself without even meaning to. It was just something I did, with my dark brown eyes (that I've been told randomly turn green from time to time) and the shadow cast across them from my bangs, I just always looked grumpy and vaguely scary.

Back to the shirt. I liked it, I really did. But after almost four hours at the mall lugging around six shopping bags, I just couldn't seem to keep up the same energy level as Clara.

"Yeah, it's cute," I sighed.

"Humph, if you don't like it you can just say so you know," she grumbled.

"No, I do. I'm just-"

CRASH!

The next thing I knew Clara and I were both on the floor. I peered up through my bangs to see a boy about my age dressed all in black steadying the clothing rack which must have been knocked into us. There was another boy sitting on the floor a few feet away rubbing his curly head.

"You're crushing me!" came Clara's muffled cry from somewhere beneath me.

I tumbled off of Clara as she shoved me to the floor.

"Oh man, I'm so sorry!" the curly haired boy scrambled to his feet and helped Clara up with a sheepish grin.

She blew her bangs out of her eyes and glowered at him as best she could. Not that she was very intimidating with her fluffy blond hair, blue-grey eyes and petite frame.

I, on the other hand, _easily_ glared daggers at the boy who's feet I'd been hurled at. But oddly enough, he had no trouble returning it, and made no move what-so-ever to help me up like his friend had with Clara.

With both of us still glaring, (or, I think I was still glaring, his eyes were such a deep black that I'd never seen before that I kind of zoned for a minute there) I climbed to my feet and back over towards Clara.

She was still standing with the boy who'd knocked us down, who she was assuring that she was totally fine.

When I walked over he looked at me and started all over again.

"Hey, I'm really sorry. I wasn't looking where I was going and I just ran right into the rack! You sure you girls are alright?" as he talked he fiddled with what looked like a wrench in his hands.

"We're fine."

"Okay, well that's good. Cause it would seriously suck if some pretty ladies such as yourselves got hurt."

I couldn't help but snort as Clara coughed and the boy looked over at death breath (as I'd decided to call him) and raised his eyebrows with a grin like, Can you believe our luck? But his friend just crossed his arms and scowled, like he was in the middle of something important that he wanted to get back to.

"Anyway, I'm Leo, and bone boy over there is Nico." He grinned again as he slipped something out of his tool belt and started fiddling with it. Why this kid was wearing a tool belt in a mall, I did not know.

But that wasn't exactly the weirdest thing about him. He was wearing a stained white collared shirt with suspenders holding up ripped black slacks and scuffed up leather shoes. His face was grimy and impish, with his brown hair curled around his ears and over his forehead. He was short too, not much taller than Clara was, who stood at about five foot three.

Clara and I both looked over to Nico. Like I mentioned before, he was wearing all black. Black trench coat (who wears a trench coat?), black tattered jeans, black boots and a black t-shirt that looked almost two sized too big for him with dancing skeletons on it. From my standing vantage point I couldn't even see his eyes anymore because they were covered by long, unruly-you guessed it!-_black_ hair.

"Look, Leo," Nico began, "Don't you think we should-"

That was all he managed before the front window of the store exploded.

Okay so, I guess it didn't really _explode_, it just…shattered explosively. And I know that store windows don't usually explode for no reason, but I guess it all depends on what you can see through the mist.

For instance, regular mortals probably wouldn't see the giant beast come crashing through the display window like I had. They probably just saw a faulty window breaking, or a renegade animal from the pet store bursting in. No four headed serpent monster entered their line of vision, though _something_ did judging by the way everyone was staring at the beast, but it definitely wasn't the hydra that _we_ saw.

"Dude, is this thing for real?" Leo complained. "Doesn't it ever give up?"

"Get down!" Nico yelled, shoving me back to the ground along with Clara.

I landed with a grunt on top of some of my dropped shopping bags beside Clara as Nico and Leo both stepped in front of us.

Clara and I shared a look as the two boys split up to divide the monsters' attention.

"You see it too right?" she mumbled.

"Kinda hard to miss if you ask me."

The hydra definitely _looked_ real enough. It had a fat, lizard-like body with sharp talons meant for shredding meals. The thing had obviously seen better days, because it was missing half of one of its hind legs-which gave it a strange sort of limp-as well as two heads. The residue left over from the decapitated heads was just two stumps burned to a crisp at the ends that dangled limply from the body of the monster.

Clara and I both scuttled backwards to the nearest clothing rack before we slowly got up. We watched as Nico and Leo taunted the beast until they were within striking distance.

Leo wielded a huge hammer that he swung from side to side and yelled crazy things in an attempt to keep the monsters' attention focused on him. Meanwhile Nico had armed himself with an obsidian sword at least three feet long that he must have pulled it out from underneath his coat.

I guess that's why he wears a trench coat…

As Leo kept the monsters' attention, Nico snuck up behind the thing and leapt onto its back, aiming to send his sword straight through its chest. But the hydra reared up and whipped its tail around and lashed Nico across his back, sending him tumbling off its back and under a circular clothing rack which toppled down on top of him as he took out the support.

"Nico!" Leo yelled, and as his focus was currently on his downed buddy, the hydra's tail whipped around and swiped Leo off his feet.

It raised one of its clawed forelegs and prepared to disembowel Leo. Just before he was ripped to shreds, he rolled out of the way and laid both his hands on the hydra's scaly leg.

"That's it buddy! You mess with us, you're gonna get burned!"

As soon as his hands made contact with the monsters' flesh, a white hot blaze started.

Clara made a strangled noise from beside me as the hydra withered and hissed as Leo burned it.

It finally managed to bat him away with its other leg, and Leo went flying towards a wall full of clothes hanging from metal bars protruding from the entire surface.

He hit one of the highest bars, colliding with a mass of t-shirts and scarves twisted around hangers and started to fall.

Clara covered her mouth and I felt my eyes bulge. He was at least ten feet up in the air and if he fell he would probably break more than a few of his bones.

But just as gravity took hold he jerked to a stop and was suspended nearly upside down as the collar of his shirt caught on the bar.

"Leo!" Clara shrieked, surging forward to help but I pulled her back as soon as the hydra turned in our direction at the sound of her voice. I didn't want my best friend becoming hydra chow.

"Leave him! He'll be fine!" Nico yelled from where he'd apparently dug himself out of the clothes pile and was fending off hydra heads.

"Oh, thanks bro!" Leo yelled as he struggled not to slip out of his shirt from atop the wall. "Just let me fall out of this stupid thing why don't you? Or, better yet," he continued as there was a ripping sound and he jerked downwards an inch or two, "Let's wait until my shirt rips! Shouldn't be long now, don't worry!"

He squirmed around more trying to disentangle himself from the bar, making his shirt rip even more.

"Stop squirming you idiot!"

"Yeah! You're just making it worse!"

Know him or not, Nico was busy fighting the monster, so _someone _had to take charge and yell at this kid.

He looked down at us and pouted.

"But then how am I going to get down?" he complained.

"Oh, I didn't know you wanted to _fall _down, did you Clara?" I asked sarcastically.

"You know, I didn't," Clara mused. "But I mean, you could if you wanted." She shrugged as she glanced up at him.

Both of us stared up at him as his shirt ripped even farther.

"Grr! Okay fine! What do I do?" he cried.

"Just wait! We'll get you down!" I turned to Clara. "Do you see a latter?"

She pursed her lips and scanned the store anxiously. She made a nervous sound as she spotted Nico and the hydra battling it out on the other side of the store. Everyone else had fled, and I was sure that mall security would be here soon. Nico and the monster had already trashed about three quarters of the store, only leaving a small part of it unscathed. Since Clara and I had stopped tracking the fight the monster had gained two heads and was gaining ground on Nico.

I was shocked though. Nico couldn't have been more than a hundred and fifteen pounds, but he was doing exceptionally well against a beast twice his size and weight. But he was obviously tiring. His strikes were getting sluggish and his rolls a bit more confused. As I watched, one hydra head lashed out and sunk its teeth into his thy.

"No!" Clara and I both shrieked.

He crumpled to the ground with a moan and his sword clattered away from him.

The hydra stalked forward, in no hurry to finish off his prey now that he knew it was done for. Nico groaned and tried reaching for his sword.

But it was too far.

Clara and I exchanged a panicked look as Leo wailed from above us, "What happened? What's going on?" and thrashed around, worsening his situation even more.

"Val…his sword…" Clara muttered.

"Brilliant!"

As I ducked behind a shelf and slunk around towards the back of the store, Clara stepped out into the open and yelled, "Hey ugly!"

The monster spun around and snarled. The thing was pretty beat up, with sword cuts on its scaly hide that oozed golden blood, two gouged out eyes and steam still coming off the foreleg that Leo had burned with his hands, but it was still going.

Clara kept yelling and to her credit, her voice was strong and clear, not a hint of fear penetrated it.

"Hey you big scaly dork! Come and get me!"

She picked up a sandal from a tipped over rack and threw it at the monster, hitting one of the heads and rebounding right into another.

The hydra hissed in six part harmony and regarded her uncertainly out of three of its slitted snake eyes. The other half of its attention was still on its next meal.

But I needed all of the monsters' attention on Clara so I could reach the sword that was, of course, right in the middle of one of the few clearings in the whole store. Nico moaned again and attempted to drag himself closer to his sword, attracting more of the hydra's attention.

Grr! Stupid boy! Couldn't he see me? I was only about seven feet away and directly in his line of vision. I crawled closer to him, ducking behind the different debris that littered the store. Nico looked up, and at that moment, we locked eyes. Hazel meeting pitch. Understanding flashed in his dark eyes and he relaxed, going completely still.

Now that Nico wouldn't be a distraction, all Clara had to do was get the beast's full attention so I could make it to Nico's sword.

I poked my head out around the rack of scattered sunglasses and looked at her. She looked scared but she was still standing out in the open waiting to see what would happen next.

With Nico no longer moving, the monster seemed to decide that Clara was the one to focus on at the moment. It turned fully towards her and slithered over obstacles, aiming straight at her. She looked at me in panic before she fled in the opposite direction of both the hydra and me.

Before the hydra could get too far from me, and too close to Clara, I dove for the dark sword as it lay there glistening in the bright florescent store lights.

Time seemed to slow as I neared the sword and I noticed that the light seemed to be sucked into it, disappearing into the blade. Shadows seemed to pool around it as the light was absorbed.

Just as I started to wonder what would happen to me if I touched it, if I would get sucked into it just as the light was, I clasped the hilt and did my signature ninja-roll over the sword and carried my momentum until I found myself on my feet staring at the destruction that Nico and the hydra had left in their wakes.

I stood in the very center of the clearing and glared at the beast that was chasing my best friend across the store. The leather grip of Nico's sword pulled comfortably at my hand. For some reason it felt all too natural to let out an angry yell and charge the monster, sword raised high.

It turned as I neared, zeroed in on my sword and forgot all about Clara.

Good.

It hissed and spat as I leapt, dodging its thrashing heads and driving the sword straight in between the base of two of its necks.

The monster howled and bucked the best it could to try and throw me. Unfortunately for both of us, it worked.

I flipped over the sword, somehow keeping my grip on the hilt as I was jerked towards the monsters' rear. Ignoring the fire like pain in both my shoulders as I held onto the sword as tightly as I could, I brought it with me as I was torn backwards and off the monster.

The hydra wailed and hissed and withered before it dissolved into a pile of steaming yellow powder.

I watched as it disintegrated before my blurry eyes from where I'd been thrown against the wall, smacking my head with a loud crack which could have been either my skull or the plaster. Not sure which though…

The last thing I remember before I blacked out was Clara leaning over me while yelling something I couldn't hear at someone I couldn't see.

She looked angry as hell and quite frankly, I felt bad for whoever was on the receiving end of her fury.

Next I saw Leo and a half-conscious Nico hobble into view behind Clara. Nico muttered something, his white face now a sickly shade of grey, and Leo's white shirt ripped so much so that is hung off one shoulder and the other part met up just below his elbow.

Then Clara moved back and Nico reached out. I'm not sure why I didn't want him to touch me, I just felt like something would be taken from me if he did, like something would end.

I managed to turn my head before his finger made contact with my forehead, and he faltered.

"Val, calm down, he's gonna help," Clara scolded from somewhere far away.

With a scowl I decided to trust Clara for once, and I slowly turned back to Nico with a wary gaze. He extended his index finger and placed it to the middle of my forehead.

With that, it seemed I fell into his eyes, and everything went black.

_**thanks for reading! don't forget to review! XD**_


	2. Chapter 2

_**okay.. chapter 2 is up :) not like I got any reviews though... siiiigh oh well. maybe someone will review this chapter and make me really happy :) anyway I don't really know how much time I will have between updates because this is my first year of high school and my teachers seem to love giving homework every night... but I will try to get the chapters up as quick as I can because I know how waiting feels :/ anyway hope you enjoy :)**_

_**oh and, unfortunately, I do not own the PJ series :( though the excessive use of commas is totally mine**_

Seeing Through the Mist

**Chapter 2**

**_Clara's point of view_**

"Oh my god! What did you do? Kill her?" I shrieked at the creepy Goth guy.

In answer to my outrage he slumped forwards and didn't move.

"Oh, so now he's dead too?" I turned on Leo.

He made frantic calming motions with his hands while his eyes bulged.

"Calm down Blondie-"

"Clara!" I snapped. I hated when people called me Blondie.

"Fine, fine! Clara," he looked at me dramatically. "Happy?"

Refusing to answer him I just sniffed and turned up my nose.

Leo huffed and rolled his eyes.

"Nico just put her to sleep so we could fix her up. And using his power like that plus the hydra bite totally drained him. C'mon," Leo stood and held out his hand for me again. "We've got to get out of here."

I allowed him to help me up and we each turned to one unconscious victim. I reached down and struggled to pick Val up from her half sitting, half lying position against the wall. Leo had pulled Nico off her lap where he had dropped, and was attempting to lift him over his shoulder. The kid couldn't have been too heavy though, and even though Leo was kinda scrawny looking, Nico was just skin and bones. At least Leo looked like he had _some_ muscle built up under his torn shirt...maybe.

As I finally managed to get Val up into my arms, I noticed that Leo was having some technical difficulties. His shirt kept falling down awkwardly and he just kept trying to fix it! It's not like it was very helpful now anyway.

After a few awkward jumps and some serious leaning and jerking that I was sure would send Nico tumbling to the floor, he huffed loudly and dumped his friend back against the wall.

Nico groaned and his head lolled.

"Sorry bro!" Leo yelped.

He straightened and tugged at the ripped hem of his shirt, awkwardly shimmying out of it and tossing it in a heap on the floor.

I felt my face flush slightly as he looked at me and playfully flexed his muscles and waggled his eyebrows.

"Like what you see?" he said in a fake seductive voice.

I rolled my eyes at this boy. Here we were, just barely surviving some crazed beast attacking us, with our two friends unconscious and having to be totted away like sacks of potatoes, and he was flirting! Or just being super weird. But either way I couldn't believe that he was humiliating himself like this! It's not even like he had much to show off! He was just too scrawny!

Well, okay, so maybe he did have a tiny bit of flat muscles on his chest with a faint, indistinct indent around where his abs were, and hard looking biceps…and he probably had a nice back too…

With a hard mental shake I was snapped roughly back to thinking straight.

What did I care about this stranger's lack of clothing? I had to focus and _not_ drop Val onto the floor, or I just knew she'd kill me.

"Won't the cops be here soon?" I asked.

"Hmm, you're probably right Blondie…oh look, here they come!" he said cheerily.

He quickly stooped down and tossed Nico back over his shoulder in a fireman's carry.

Hmm…now that I thought about it, I could _totally _picture Leo running heroically out of a burning building (lacking his shirt of course!) but with me in his arms instead of Nico.

"C'mon! We'll have to go out the window!" he jogged towards the side of the store and to a small, discreet window.

I shook my head to clear my über creepy thoughts as I waddled awkwardly behind him as best I could with Val's dead weight in my arms.

He set Nico down (I noticed he did it more gently this time since he was apparently semi-conscious) and struggled to open the window as quickly as he could. Finally it slid open and he motioned me over urgently.

"Put her down and climb through the window," he instructed. "Once you're on the other side I'll pass 'em through."

So I set Val down and heaved myself up onto the deceivingly high window frame and half tumbled, half jumped out the window, ducking awkwardly so I didn't brain myself on the bottom of the open window.

Once I was out I spun around and said, "Okay, I'm ready." But Leo was already hoisting up Val up and trying as gently as he could to get her through the small gap. With her dead weight it took a few minutes, and a lot of the two of us muttering and cursing.

"Watch her-!"

"Grab her leg!"

"Don't just drop her, stupid!"

"Crap!"

Once we _finally _had Val through the window and safely settled on the ground by me feet (I prayed I wouldn't step on her while maneuvering Nico out the window), I spun around with my arms out, half expecting Nico to be shoved out the window carelessly.

But instead I was met with an alarming sight. Police officers and mall cops were flooding the store and yelling back and forth at one another. Now, _I _had never been chased by the cops, but from the expression on Leo's face, I assumed this was all just part of his regular routine.

He cursed and muttered, "_No hay tiempo __suficiente_…" (was that Spanish?) under his breath as he turned back to me and officers pointed and shouted at him.

He shoved a half conscious Nico through the window who protested and growled and was smacked into the frame several times.

The police officers were rushing up behind Leo as he took a step backwards and I yelled a warning. He glanced behind him and yelped, diving through the window in a very ungraceful way while he yelled something that sounded like, "Flame on!" while he whooped and grinned.

I tried to back up out of his path, but my heel made contact with Val's back.

In the next instant Leo slammed into me from the elevated window, bowling me over. We both tumbled to the ground, rolling in a tangled mess of limbs along the lumpy grass.

_I guess this is what socks feel like in the washer_, I thought dizzily.

When the world stopped spinning I realized that I was staring straight up at a baby blue sky, not a cloud in sight. Then I realized that there was a warm mass draped across my middle. I glanced down towards my stomach and saw Leo lying diagonally across me with his face in the grass moaning.

He pushed himself up so that his weight was no longer on me, but he was still directly over me, stopping me from getting to my feet.

He grinned down at me and exclaimed, "Awesome!" as he pumped his fist in the air.

"Ah, no! Not awesome!" I complained, shoving him a little too roughly off of me so that I could get up.

He lay grinning up at me from his position on the ground, now flipped onto his back.

"Okay, so my Flaming Valdez thing didn't work out exactly how Jason had me thinking it might, who cares?"

I scoffed.

"Well for one, let's start with me! The one who just got _attacked _by you!" I pouted and rubbed my rear-end. "I bruise easily,"

"Well, I'm really sorry my good looks prevented you from reacting in time, but I really think we should get going."

I peered back into the store and saw the police picking through the debris cluttering the showroom floor. A few were an alarming distance from the window. Any closer and they'd probably see us standing here arguing.

Leo bounded over to Nico who had hoisted himself up and was sitting propped up against a tree with a scowl that would give Val a run for her money set solidly on his pale face.

"Were you _trying_ to concuss me?" he accused as he glared at Leo.

Leo cringed, but I found even _that_ seemed to resemble his crazy grin.

"Sorry bro, but there's no time to put you on the Death to Leo list, we've got to get outta here. Can you stand?"

Nico struggled to his feet with some grunting and cursing, but when he was up Leo grinned like the mad man I was beginning to think he was, and slapped him on the back. He stumbled forwards and glared out the corner of his eyes at Leo, who was picking up Val.

"Where to?" he growled.

"Anywhere's good right now, man," Leo muttered, "Just as long as it's away."

As the boys talked they headed around the side of the mall towards the parking lot. I trailed behind them, anxiously looking over my shoulder, sure that at any minute a flood of security guards would come chasing after us.

At first we had to walk kind of slowly so Nico wouldn't fall behind on his shaky legs. But for a guy who'd been bitten by a hydra and was unconscious only a few minutes before, he moved pretty fast.

As we gained speed and put some distance between ourselves and the mall I began to relax. Questions flooded my head as I listened to Nico and Leo chat (well, mostly Leo, Nico seemed to be trying to ignore him, kinda like Val did with me a lot). Who were these two boys? And exactly what was that thing back in the store? And most importantly, had someone drugged me? Seriously, because this could _not_ be happening, so someone must have slipped something into my drink earlier and I guess it was kicking in.

I lost track of how long we walked for, but I watched as the crowd on the sidewalk thickened, and buildings moved closer to each other until they were all huge and huddled side-by-side on either side of the overcrowded street.

Apparently we were downtown now.

There were so many people pressing in from every side that we were forced to walk single file as we weaved in and out of peoples' paths. Nico took the lead, and people made way for him. Those who didn't he shoved out of the way without so much as muttering "sorry". On our walk here I'd noticed him eating something that looked suspiciously like a rice crispy bar (though I doubted that was what it actually was), and he had seemed to return to life almost immediately after swallowing (could you even call it "returning to life" if the kid looked like death anyway?).

Leo fallowed in Nico's wake, occasionally glancing back at me to make sure I was still with them. He still had Val in his arms, and to be honest, I thought that might have earned him a lot of strange looks. That and the fact that he was seriously lacking in the clothing department. But, as it turned out he was mostly ignored.

As I struggled to keep up with the two of them, I found myself wondering why it was exactly that I was actually following them. I mean, my mom was supposed to pick the two of us up at the mall at five, and if I remember correctly, it had been about twenty to five before Val and I had gone into the store that we _totally_ should have avoided like she suggested. When we weren't there for her to pick up, she would freak! And then she would call Val's mom, and that's when the real horror would begin. Facing the hydra would look _easy_ compared to the wrath of Val's mom when she got a hold of us. Oh man…we were doomed.

Oh, duh! That's why I was still following them. Val. Leo was carrying her.

"Where are we going?" I called up to Leo as I scampered after him. "When are you going to tell me what's going on?" I wined.

"Holly Hephaestus, Blondie! I told you we would explain later! Like, when your friend wakes up, later!" he sounded _extremely_ exasperated now. Not that I could blame him of course. I just had that effect on people. Especially when I repeated the same question over and over and over…

For about as long as we'd been walking I'd been peppering the two boys with questions: Where are we going? What just happened? Who are you guys? How can such a scrawny kid look so good without a shirt?

Okay so, maybe I didn't ask that last one out loud, but you get the idea. Leo just waved off all my attempted interrogations with an annoyingly smug grin (all that boy ever did was grin!), but I was sure Nico wanted to impale me with that wicked black sword of his.

I huffed and looked across the street for about one second, I swear that's all it was. But when I looked back, Leo, Nico and Val were nowhere to be seen.

I stopped in my tracks and spun in a quick circle. Nothing. There was a lamp post two feet in front of me with a concrete base about a foot high. I leapt onto it and steadied myself against the pole. I stretched as tall as I could possibly stand and peered over top of the withering crowd. Double nothing.

All the noise from around me receded into a dull hum as I jumped down and ran forwards in a panic. As I passed in between two stores I felt something snag my wrist, and the next thing I knew I was snatched into the shadowy ally way by something unseen.

Before I could even get breath into my lungs so I could scream, I felt a warm and…familiar body very close to me.

"Cool it, Blondie," Leo chuckled from behind me.

I spun around and smacked him on the chest. His bare chest…hmm…

"Don't do that to me!" I shrieked. "You just left me in the middle of the crowd out there! I had no idea where you guys went!" I made a flustered noise as I waved my hands around frantically and stared all around the ally. "You just can't _do_ that, Leo!"

He offered me an apologetic smile.

"Sorry, I thought you were right behind me."

I crossed my arms and tried to channel my inner Val. I pouted stubbornly, but Leo's sheepish grin was softening me up.

Just as I was about to forgive the crazy imp, a voice beside me made me jump so high I thought I could have landed on the roof of the building next to me.

"Leo, come help me with the friend."

I didn't even see Nico until he spoke, his voice drifting from the shadows right beside us.

Leo didn't look like this was a strange occurrence, though he did seem creeped.

"Dude! You've gotta stop doing that!" he accused. "You're gonna give me a heart attack one of these days! And then what would become of Team Leo, huh? Think of the devastation!" he wailed as he clutched at his chest dramatically.

Nico just rolled his fierce eyes and scowled as he ghosted over to Val's slumped figure.

Leo followed him over while he busied his hands with some spare parts he pulled from his tool belt.

"Wait, what's wrong with her?" I squeaked, peering over Leo's shoulder as he knelt on the ground and steadied Val's limp body as Nico positioned himself at her far shoulder.

"She's got a dislocated shoulder," Nico explained coolly as he placed his hands carefully on her upper arm and collar bone. "I've got to relocate it before she wakes up."

Both boys tightened their grips on her.

Just as I was about to ask _why _it was so important that he relocate Val's shoulder before she woke up, Nico adjusted his grip, and with a sickening pop and a crackling sound, he jerked her arm back to where it normally hung from its socket.

Both my hands flew up to my shoulders and I winced painfully. Leo shuddered.

Nico didn't seem to be at all affected by this. He just frowned and propped her up more against the rough brick wall.

"She should wake up soon," Nico mumbled, not looking at either of us.

I stood staring down at Nico as he knelt next to Val. As my shock subsided, I started to notice something.

Val and Nico were a lot alike.

They both acted cold and distant towards other people, they both seemed to take startling events totally in stride when others would probably be too shaken to properly react, and they both seemed to favour the colour black and like skulls (as noted by the silver skull ring I noticed glinting on Nico's finger).

Nico stood back as Val stirred. Her eyes popped open and she seemed to take in the situation right away.

I leapt forwards and crouched beside her.

"Val! Are you okay? How do you feel?"

She rolled her neck, just like she always did, and flexed her fingers, just like she always did, and cracked her back, just like she always-well, you get the point.

"I'm fine. Why?" she raised her eyebrow in that way that she always did that made me just want to wax her eyebrows right off her face.

"You had a dislocated shoulder," Nico answered for me from the shadows. Val's eyes flitted to his dark silhouette before she looked back at me.

She frowned and tried to get up. But instead of getting to her feet, she just grimaced and crumpled back to the ground with an agonised grunt.

"You should rest," Nico called as he retreated further into the shadows. "You'll be a bit weak from the trance I put you in. You should probably just sit down for a while."

I could tell she didn't like it, but Val stayed seated as she glared up at Nico.

"A trance," she growled. "You put me in a _trance_? What does that even mean?" she cried, throwing her hands up incredulously.

"It means I put you to sleep," Nico scowled and crossed his arms. "Or would you have preferred to deal with all the pain while we walked here and then have me relocate your shoulder all while you were conscious?" he challenged.

"Whatever."

I glanced nervously at Leo and then in between Val and Nico, their gazes locked as they silently fought it out. The tension in the air was so thick I was sure that if Nico were to pull out that sword of his, he would be able to slice right through it.

This was pointless. I knew Val wasn't going to back down, she never did. And I was willing to bet Leo's life that Nico was the same.

Why Leo's life you ask? Well, I wasn't betting _my_ life, and Leo was annoying. What else was I gonna do?

So, to avoid the eminent fist fight that would probably break out if Val was ever able to get to her feet, I stepped forward and said, "I think Leo needs a new shirt."

Nico and Val blinked. Once. Twice.

They looked at me. They looked at Leo.

Val snorted, leaning back against the wall.

"Way to state the obvious there, Clara."

Leo grinned.

"Yeah, but she's right," he snuck a side glance at me when he thought I probably couldn't see. "How 'bout you come help me find one? Nico can stay here and watch over Val, and you can help me pick out a shirt."

I narrowed my eyes at Leo as he grinned yet again (surprise, surprise), and glanced at Val for permission. Not permission to _go _of course, just permission to leave her alone with Mr. Cheerful over there lurking in the shadows.

She nodded and rolled her eyes at me like, _I think I can take care of this guy until you get back from buying _one_ shirt. Have a little faith._

"Okay…" I ventured.

"Great!" Leo slung his arm around my shoulders and marched me out of the ally saying something about what a great time we were going to have. Suddenly I wasn't feeling bad for Val, who would be left alone with Nico. At least he probably wouldn't talk, which was just how Val liked it.

It was me I was feeling sorry for.

Just as we left the ally I twisted in Leo's grasp and caught a glimpse of Val smirking viciously as I was led away by some lunatic.

I wasn't sure, but I thought I saw her mouth the words, _Pay back!_ as she grinned. Maybe it was just my imagination.

I seriously doubted it though.

_**thanks for reading! :) don't forget to review!**_


	3. Chapter 3

_**yeey chapter 3! :) only got a few reviews though... :( and there is one that I have to reply to so:**_

_**SPOILER ALERT FOR HOUSE OF HADES! dear Troll, I am aware that Nico is gay (I knew before I posted the second chapter and everything) and personally I don't give a crap. he is totally my fictional boyfriend and he is NOT gay in what I am writing. just letting you know. **_

_**aaaanyway...i'm hoping for some more reviews for this chapter and maybe people could tell me if they want longer chapters or anything. because the ones i'm posting now are only 7 or 8 pages. so let me know!**_

_**disclaimer: I do NOT own PJ characters! (though I wish I did!)**_

**Chapter 3**

**_Clara's point of view_**

"Where is a good spot to get a cheap shirt?" Leo asked as he looked around.

"Hmm, I'm not really sure," I mused, joining him in checking out all the different stores around us. Not many sold clothes.

As we walked I decided to try my luck again with getting some answers.

"So…are you going to tell me what's going on now?" I asked innocently.

Leo looked uncomfortable as he answered, "Nico said to wait so that he could explain…"

"Well why can't you just do it?" I challenged.

"Umm, I'm pretty sure he thinks that I'll say too much."

Hmm…interesting.

I'd never been very good as working with people's emotions like Val was, but maybe this one time I could try and guilt him into telling me or something.

"So…what? He doesn't trust you or something?"

"Nah, he just knows how I tend to talk a lot. You know, just keep going until something slips out that shouldn't have," he laughed.

So that was what I needed to do. I just had to get him to start talking. Just random things to start, then I could slowly bring the conversation back to what the heck was going on.

Hmm…where to start…

Leo pulled some bits of scrap metal from his tool belt and started tinkering.

Well. That was as good a place as any to start, I guess.

"What's with the tool belt?" I questioned.

He looked at me and grinned.

"Oh, it's magic," he replied lightly.

"Magic?" I croaked.

I had definitely not been expecting that for an answer.

"What do you mean?"

"Well," the way he said it, with that grin and the way he bounced on his feet a bit, I knew I was in for a long explanation. "It's enchanted. I can pull almost anything out of it, and it never even feels heavy or anything."

"Wait, so you could like, pull a chainsaw out of that thing?" I eyed it suspiciously.

Leo laughed and cried, "I wish! But I can't pull anything too big or complicated from it. Ordinary stuff is easy, but the more complicated what I want is, the longer my belt takes to recharge. And it really sucks because I can't pull _anything_ magical from it, so I'm stuck with a three pound hammer as a frickin weapon!" he complained. "On the bright side, I _can_ store anything that fits in the pockets without worrying that it'll break! Plus," he reached in and produced a small tin. "Unlimited supply of mints!" he fist pumped and grinned as he dropped them back into his belt.

Cool…

"Did you make it?" I don't know why I asked. The idea of this hyperactive boy making a magical tool belt should seem utterly ridicules (not to mention the idea of a magical tool belt being utterly ridicules), but for some reason I felt like he was capable of making extraordinary things.

"Nah!" he rolled his head back as he dragged out the word, making something that should have been pretty simple _way_ more dramatic than it had to be. "I wish I had though. Because I would have made a few adjustments…"

He trailed off and stared wistfully into space as he walked.

Pretty soon though, his attention was back to me and he asked, "So, are you and Val _BFF's_?" he joked.

"Yes. Yes we are," I replied matter-of-factly. "How 'bout you and Nico? You guys _besties_?" I mocked.

Leo snorted.

"Nah, I'm pretty sure that kid wants to gut me. My boy's back at camp hanging with his _lady_," Leo wiggled his eyebrows in an, _If you know what I mean_, kinda way.

Hang on, camp…was that important? The way he'd said it…and his best friend was there. He had to be like Leo and Nico too, right? Maybe that was where all the crazy, hallucination prone kids hung out?

Leo didn't react though, so it was either nothing of significance, or he just hadn't noticed he'd even said anything.

But then…I saw my opening. He was distracted, he was chilled, it was perfect.

"Is he like you?"

I tried my hardest to make my tone light and as inconspicuous as I could, and I guess it must have worked, because he absently replied, "Yeah, he's the son of-"

All of a sudden he snapped his mouth shut and his fingers froze on his little mechanical-_thingy_-that he was fiddling with, and his eyes popped open to the size of quarters.

He dropped his hands quickly to his sides and cried, "Damn it!" just as I let out a triumphant, "Ah ha!"

But when he didn't react any farther or offer up any info, I prompted, "He's the son of…"

"Umm, nothing. Never mind. Fred." Leo blurted.

"After all that's happened today, I feel like you were gonna say he is the son of some Greek god or something," I muttered warily.

"Oh, well," Leo nervously twirled a screwdriver in his hand.

"Umm, Leo, he isn't…is he?" I felt ridicules for asking, but I just had to.

"Oh, hey! Look at that shirt! It's perfect!"

With an aggravated sigh, I growled, "Leo, you're not going to distract me with clothes…"

Despite my protests, Leo veered off course and headed towards a store.

With a start, I realised that he was avoiding my question.

"Oh my gods, he is, isn't he!" I gasped.

Instead of answering my question, Leo just asked, "Why do you say 'oh my gods'?"

I blushed as a chime rang out inside the store that Leo had just pushed open the door to. He held it wide for me and looked down curiously as I passed through.

"Oh, well, Val and I have a Greek Mythology class together," I felt my blush deepen, impossible to miss on my porcelain skin. "I guess we're pretty into it. Both of us kinda took up saying 'oh my gods' after a bit. I don't even really notice I say it. Why?"

Leo shrugged.

"It's just 'cause-as I'm sure you'll notice-both Nico and I, and like, just about _everyone_ else we know say that."

Was that supposed to be some kind of hint? Before I could ask, Leo pointed to a shirt and laughed, "Hey, what about this one?"

"Ugh!" I cried, wrinkling my nose and hugging myself as I hunched my shoulders in disgust.

He had picked out and was holding aloft a button up, red and green checkered collared dress shirt that made me wasn't to puke all over it. It was so hideous that even _that_ would be an improvement.

"Okay, the suspenders before were bad enough, but _this_-" I broke off and shuddered.

Leo was holding the shirt to his chest and wriggling his eyebrows as he so often did while grinning until I dissed his suspenders.

He put up an offended hand with a mock serious look on his face.

"Hold up," he said, if only slightly miffed. "What did you just say about my suspenders?"

I glanced up from a rack of clothes a few feet away before returning my attention to the solid red V-neck that would make him look totally-er-bearable.

"I said they were ridicules," I absently informed him. "Not quite as bad as that shirt…" I held up the shirt I'd chosen beside his pouty figure. "But close enough," I finished. "This one'll do. Do you want to try it on?"

Leo didn't drop the subject of his suspenders as I marched him off to the fitting rooms.

"I don't get it," he wondered, "What's wrong with my suspenders?"

I shoved him into one of the rooms without answering him and told him I'd be looking around the store myself while he tried the shirt.

I browsed the racks of clothes until Leo sprung from the fitting rooms and came over to me grinning. By the way he sauntered over I could tell he was going to try some of his Leo Charm on me now that he was looking all spiffed up in a new shirt.

"So, be honest, do I look smokin'," he grinned and nodded. "Or do I look _smokin_'?"

I rolled my eyes and said, "Oh how endearing. You know, you're sense of modesty _so _becomes you."

Leo's eyebrows shot up like he wasn't aware that I was capable of sounding intellectual. Which I totally _was_…as long as I remembered the phrase when Val said it. She was the one with the way with words, meanwhile I was always mixing up things like 'how' and 'who', and 'our' and 'are'. She always got so fed up with me that I just went out of my way now when we were talking to say things that weren't even words.

"Let's just check out already before your face gets frozen like that," I spat. "No need for you to look even _more_ freakish."

As we were checking out I had to explain to the lady that Leo had to wear the shirt out because of the current condition of his previous one. Apparently she'd seen Leo come in shirtless (shocker) so she was pretty understanding.

First she rung up the shirt that I'd chosen for myself, then Leo had to sit up on the counter so she could try and scan the tag on the shirt he was wearing. I had a hard time not laughing as I watched Leo get tousled and groped as he sat leaning over precariously and periodically yipping at the woman.

I swear I almost snorted out load when the woman had to reach her hand right up his shirt and he yelped, "Hey, watch it lady!" the woman turned bright red and muttered an apology before finally managing to scan the damn thing.

As we left the store I couldn't manage to hold in my laughter any longer, and I was busting my gut laughing at Leo's bright red face and at the sales lady who looked like she wanted to…shall we say permanently disable all of the security cameras in that place.

I waved cheerily to the sales lady and cooed to Leo as we stepped outside, "Aww, Leo, it looks like your new friend it going to miss you."

"Shut it, Blondie," he muttered.

With my most diabolical cackled I forged ahead and lead the way back to our cosy little ally.

"So," I ventured. "Since I was _super_ nice and bought you that well needed shirt…" I trailed off as I peered over at Leo.

"I'm guessing you want me to explain what's going on now?" he sighed.

I nodded vigorously.

"Can't you just wait 'till we get back to Nico?" he complained.

"Nooooooo…" I wined, clutching at his arm. "I want to know _nooooow_!"

"Ouch!" he swatted at my hands on his bicep. "You're clawing me to death!"

He rubbed his arm and pouted.

"That's gonna leave a mark…"

"Oh, suck it up you big baby!"

"Is that any way to speak to the guy you want information from?" Leo asked all high-and-mighty like.

I growled and smoothed my unruly curls in an effort to calm myself.

"Sorry," I clipped. "But can't you just tell me now?" I pleaded.

He sighed.

"Well, I suppose…"

"Yey!" I grabbed his arms again and bounced up and down in my excitement.

"Gah! Claws, demon! Claws!" he reminded me.

"Right! Sorry!"

He grumbled a bit, but he actually looked like he was going to spill the beans! Not that I liked beans…no! Staying on topic here! He was telling me what was going on.

"So, you said you were taking a Greek Mythology class right…?"

I nodded.

"Okay, so…you know all those dusty old gods?"

I nodded again.

"They all, sorta…still exist," he mumbled as if he half expected I'd call him crazy.

"I knew it!" I cried instead.

"What?"

"For _years_ I've been seeing the weirdest things…just like that hydra!" I explained. "Val can see them too. I think that's why we're so close. It's because we both understood what the other was going through. So naturally we were dawn to each other."

He nodded like this was somewhat what he expected.

"Yeah, I kinda guessed you _chicas _could see through the mist, what with the way Val killed that thing…is she always that insane?"

"Yes."

"Naturally…" he muttered. "Anyway-"

"Wait a sec!" I interrupted.

He looked exasperated as he whined, "What?"

"What's 'the mist'?"

"Nico'll give you the rundown on the whole thing later, got it? I'm just here to give you the brief version of what _we're_ doing right now."

I nodded uncertainly.

"So, I'm a son of Hephaestus, the god of blacksmiths and fire," Leo raised his hand in a _Hold it! _gesture as I opened my mouth. "No questions 'till I'm done, Blondie. So anyway, Nico is the son of Hades, the god of the underworld. But of course _you_, Ms. Mythology, must have known that, am I right?" he joked.

I nodded tentatively. Now that he brought Nico up, I couldn't help but think that that kid was _so_ perfect for Val. As long as they didn't kill each other until they realised that they were totally meant for each other, I would have the right to a huge _I told you so_.

"Well, since the gods are too busy to do stuff themselves, they send their kids to do whatever they need done," he rolled his eyes. "And Nico and I are currently on a very macho quest to, umm…well the truth is we're not actually sure what we're supposed to do yet…the prophecy wasn't very clear."

_An actual prophecy? Cool! _

I wanted to ask him about it, but I held my tongue.

"But I'm thinking that part of what the oracle said was about you two," he announced like he always told teenage girls that there was some ancient divine force that had mentioned them.

"What?" I blurted before I could stop myself.

Leo shrugged.

"The oracle said something about 'The Gift of Sight', and I'm thinking that that could be you two." He explained. "But Nico won't go for it."

"Okay, wait. So you're saying-"

"Please!" Leo interjected. "Save all questions for the end of the tour. In other words, just ask Nico, when we're back, brah."

"Is it _that_ impossible to say my actual name?" I asked him, irritated with all his little nicknames.

He grinned and answered with a simple, "Yes."

I sighed and rolled my eyes in exasperation.

"One thing though…"

Leo raised one of his eyebrows just like Val, except on him it was _way_ less annoying for some reason. Shouldn't it have been more annoying with Leo? Wasn't _everything_ more annoying with Leo?

"Are you saying we will have to come on this 'quest' with you guys?"

"Probably," he shrugged. "Unless Nico veto's the idea."

Okay, I was starting to get a serious headache.

As I walked on with Leo I decided to pull out the new top that I'd just bought and admire it to help ease the ache. It was almost as good as one of the tops I'd bought with Val earlier…

Suddenly a thought hit me and I froze in place.

"Oh my gods, Leo…"

"What?" he asked nervously, looking around us. "You see something?"

"No," I shook my head. "We have to go back."

"What? Go back where?"

"Back to the store!"

"Huh? Which store?"

"The one where the hydra attacked!"

"_What_? Are you crazy? That store is probably swarming with cops by now!" Leo waved his hands around in a swarming motion for emphasis as he started forward again and I scampered after him.

"I don't care! I left all my clothes there! It's just not cool to ditch perfectly good-not to mention already _paid for_-clothes in a store like that! They cost a lot of money you know!"

"Look, I can just buy you new clothes after we're done with this quest, it's not that big a deal that we have to risk going back!"

"Oh…my gods. You did _not_ just say that it wasn't a big deal!" I screeched.

"Oh, come on! Calm down already! It's not like you won't ever see them again! I promise that once we are done with the quest I will buy you everything that you bought today."

"But don't you understand?" I cried, "Everything I bought will probably be out of stock once we get back! This was my last chance to get the spring line! By the time we get back everything in that store will have been replaced by the summer line! This is horrible!" I wailed.

"Look, I know you're upset, but-"

"Oh, I'm _not just_ upset Leo! And I'm serious!" I cut off his reasoning. "I'm not going anywhere with you guys unless I get my clothes from that store!"

"Clara, we can't risk it," he warned.

"I don't care! I'm not just abandoning all the clothes that I spent hours finding and months saving up for! Not to mention that we didn't even get that shirt for Val!" I wined.

"Blondie, we just can't-what are you doing?"

I had stopped walking and plunked myself down right there in the middle of the crowded sidewalk. I pouted as I crossed my arms and stubbornly lifted my chin.

"I told you. I'm not going anywhere without my clothes."

Leo stood there gaping at me as people continued to stream around us, casting us the strangest looks. Even more than we got walking here with shirtless Leo. I was tempted to yell out, _What? You've never seen a girl throw a protest over her clothes before? _But I decided against it.

I just sat there trying to fake regality as much as I possibly could.

"But-I mean-we have to-" Leo spluttered. "Are you _serious_?"

I don't know how many other people there are in this world who would rather endanger themselves as well as one of their friends (was Leo my friend?), but that was exactly what I planned to do, because, yes. I was serious.

I'm not trying to sound selfish, or shallow, or conceded. I'm just saying that I have a certain passion when it comes to my clothes. And I wasn't often one of the most determined girls, or the one with the most resolve, or the one who would never be persuaded to do anything she didn't want or to not do something she wanted because of what people said (that was Val), but on this one subject, I could not be swayed.

I was not going anywhere or doing anything until I got what I'd paid for. Consider it…the beginning of my training of not being such a sucker.

_**remember: REVIEW! :) thanks for reading**_


	4. Chapter 4

_**back with the next chapter! :) and i'm pretty sure I posted the previous chapter yesterday, so those of you who are my loyal readers (do I have any?) I expect some reviews! ;) **_

_**disclaimer: any characters that you might find in rick rioradan's books, I do not own.**_

**Chapter 4**

**_Val's point of view_**

I watched Clara leave with Leo.

_Oh that poor girl…_

If she thought _I _was annoying when I went on my hyperactive rampages I couldn't _wait_ to see how she'd get along with this kid. I was pretty sure he had some serious ADHD even worse than my own. I could tell that with just the minimal amount of time that we'd spent together.

She was _so_ going to kill me when she got back.

In the meantime…

Nico was dwelling in the shadows, standing against the opposite wall.

I had a feeling it was supposed to intimidate me how he just blended in like that, but it certainly wasn't very impressive. I could've done the same thing if I wanted.

We sized each other up from our respectful places about ten feet from each other. I decided that if I was going to be waiting in here with him I wouldn't be sitting on the stupid ground the whole time. It was hard and cold and something was stabbing me in the butt.

I pulled myself to my feet with the help of a random crate of something-or-other as Nico eyed me.

After a lot of wincing and cursing under my breath, I finally managed to sit up on the crate. Although, against my better judgement, I must admit that I was _exhausted_.

And Nico just stood there watching me the whole time like some kind of creepy, stalker kid. It wasn't like I wanted-let alone _needed_-his help, but I'm just saying, it would have been nice if the kid at least _looked_ like he wanted to help me. Because, _hello_! This _was_ his doing.

"How long will this last?" I demanded as I glared at him.

He shrugged roughly.

"Not sure."

I resisted the urge to growl at him. There was already _one_ freak here. There was no need for me to join him in freakdom by growling. That would just mean that we had something in common.

So instead I settled for grumbling something not very complimentary towards him as I slouched against the wall on my little makeshift seat.

One good thing about him though: he didn't seem to want to talk to me.

That was good. Especially considering the fact that my conversational skills currently rested at about a 0 on the imaginary little scale that people used to judge each other on how well they conversed.

Introvert, looser, outcast, whatever you wanted to call me, I just wasn't a people person.

Luckily enough, Nico didn't seem to be one either.

That meant I could just lock myself inside my head and not come out until Clara returned with Leo. And that was _exactly_ what I planned to do.

So I sat there, eyes roaming and body relaxing. After a few minutes of watching people pass in front of our ally, I caught something glittering behind me out of the corner of my eye. I whipped my head around and my eyes locked on Nico's obsidian sword.

He'd unsheathed it and laid it down beside him on top of a trashcan. I gazed at it laying there and glittering in the faint sunlight.

It was weird though. Half the sword-the hilt side-was resting in the shade, and the majority of the blade was lying under the sun. And I noticed-just as I had in the mall when I'd reached for Nico's sword-that even though it was _definitely_ laying in the sun, shadows seemed to condense around the blade, almost like a protective layer of darkness.

I remembered when I'd held it, the dark power I'd felt coursing through the blade. Almost like trapped souls fighting to free themselves from its confinement. Weird how that's the first thing I would think of.

I wanted to touch it again, to hold it and feel the welcome weight of it pulling at my hand. But it was Nico's. And he was almost _guarding_ it as he stood beside it. That was what it looked like.

Suddenly I noticed Nico eyeing me eyeing his sword. Basically, there was a lot of "eyeing" going on.

I met his eyes and was briefly shoved into the past when Nico had been lying only semi-conscious on the ground and me, trying to reach his sword to slay the hydra. Understanding had passed between us at that moment. Trust. He trusted that I would be able to do what he couldn't.

I brought myself back to the present with a vicious tug.

We were still staring at each other.

He startled me by speaking though.

"Where did you learn to use a sword like that?"

Had he been reading my mind? No, no of course not. That was stupid. Besides, if this kid _could_ read minds, I would have to avoid him for the rest of my life. If I didn't…well, I'd probably get skewered.

"Well?" he prompted.

Realising that I'd zoned out again, I quickly shrugged my shoulders. Too late I remembered that one of my shoulders had been dislocated not too long ago, and I hissed in pain as I grasped at it.

There was movement in my peripheral vision, but I ignored it until Nico's voice-right beside my ear- said, "Are you alright?"

My head shot up and I glared at him. He didn't look or sound particularly concerned, but he _had_ come over to help if the need arose. I took that as a good sign.

When I didn't answer right away his face seemed to soften and he leaned forwards a bit, looking like he wanted to reach over to me, but he just gripped the edge of my crate tightly.

"Val?"

I blew my bangs out of my eyes so I could glare better at him.

"_I'm_ _fine_," I ground out.

He leaned out and his expression hardened, becoming guarded once more. He grunted as he marched back over towards his sword. He picked it up and twirled it around expertly a few times before clasping it firmly in his hand and letting it hang by his side.

I watched its every move.

"So you've never used a sword before?" his tone was devoid of all emotion. Totally dead.

I shook my head gravely and he grunted like my answer pleased him, like it was what he expected.

"Shouldn't be long until you're shoulder settles," he mused. "Maybe then you can show me what you've got."

Was he suggesting I fight him? With a sword?

Did I have a concussion? Because, that just couldn't be right. So that means that I must have been hallucinating. Hey, it sounded more reasonable than a sword fight with the creepy kid lurking in the shadows.

"Yeah, umm…I'm good," I muttered.

He raised an eyebrow at me.

"Scared?"

Okay, now I _know_ I must have been hallucinating, because it sounded like he just asked-no _challenged_-me about being scared. He thought I was scared! After he'd seen me charge an eight headed hydra with absolutely _no_ experience what-so-ever, and no freaking clue as to what was going on. How many people did he know who did that? And he had the _nerve_ to call me scared?

He seemed to take my stunned silence for a yes, because he started to smirk. It wasn't even like a regular smirk, it was cold and eerie and made you think of a serial killer watching his victims breaking down in fear. He was probably some kind of sadist. That wouldn't surprise me.

"You are," he murmured.

I sat up and growled, "Am not."

"Then prove it."

"Oh, yeah, okay," I mocked. "Let me just get my sword, oh wait! I must have forgotten in in Candy Land with my pet unicorn!" I made a face at him as he scowled. "But, wait, I don't have a pet unicorn…or a sword!"

With a murderous look in his eye, he tossed me his sword.

I just barely caught it.

"Stygian iron," he called. "Don't touch it."

"What would happen if I did?" I wasn't aware I'd spoken aloud until Nico answered me.

"You'd probably have your soul ripped from your body and it would most likely be imprisoned for eternity in the blade," he shrugged. "Feel free to touch it and find out though, 'cause I'm not _completely_ positive."

He was trying to scare me. I could see it in the wicked glint in his dark eyes. He was watching me, seeing how I'd react.

I lifted the blade up near my face so I could inspect it. It glimmered delicately as I turned it from side to side. Nico crossed his arms impatiently as he continued looking at me.

I brought up my right hand and gently caressed the flat of the blade.

Nothing happened.

Nico looked impressed, if not slightly disappointed.

"You're brave," he grudgingly admitted while he glared.

I shrugged, testing my shoulder. It felt mostly fine. And I didn't feel nauseous or dizzy anymore, so that had to be a good sign.

I switched the sword to my other hand.

"I knew you were lying," I told him.

"Did you?" he arched his eyebrows at me.

I nodded.

We glared.

He uncrossed his arms and reached inside his trench coat and explained, "Well, you're right," he pulled out a small black dagger from a hidden pocket. "It doesn't reap souls unless I command it too. And I have to be holding it."

I nodded like guys always explained the magical properties of their soul-reaping swords to me.

Nico popped his neck and flew straight at me.

I thanked my ADHD and had the good sense to raise my borrowed sword to block his straight down strike. And easy block. He let me have it.

Iron clashed against iron as his swipe met my block. He twirled to the left and swung his dagger at my legs.

I jumped at just the right moment, clearing his jab and landing as gracefully as I could manage with my sword pointed at him.

He eyed me for a moment with interest before he lunged. I sidestepped and nearly tripped over a tipped over trashcan.

Nico resumed his attacking, and I proceeded to block every lunge, strike and stab he made. It was a delicate dance in a tight space. I ducked and dodged and leapt over obstacles. Any attempt at a strike made by me was easily blocked by Nico, and I soon gave up on trying to kill him.

He obviously wasn't used to fighting with a dagger, and I'm positive that if our weapons had been reversed, I would have been on my back with a sword through my stomach within seconds. But they weren't. And I wasn't.

But my lack of training was obvious to both of us, and had anyone been watching, I'm sure they would have made bets on how long until I was defeated. Not long obviously.

Just as I was getting somewhat comfortable with our little routine (or should I just call it less panicked?), I noticed something different about the strike Nico was making. But of course, lack of training that I had, didn't recognise what it was. I parried the blade away from my body as quick as Nico struck, but before I could retract my sword, I felt Nico's leverage change. He stepped in and twisted his blade around my own. It clattered out of my hand and Nico shouldered me to the ground.

Luckily, I landed near the stupid fallen trashcan that I'd tripped on earlier, or I would have been toast (well, I don't think he would have actually killed me, but still). I grabbed the metal lid that was beside me and swung it by the little handle towards Nico's incoming thrust. I batted the blade out of his grip and swung myself around to sweep his legs out from beneath him with a low crescent kick to the back of his knees.

He landed with a thud and barely saved himself from cracking his head open on the ground. As I launched myself over top of him I grabbed his dagger from where it had fallen not too far from where we were both on the ground now.

I thumped onto his chest just as he was trying to push himself back to his feet. I gripped the ends of his long hair and pushed it to the ground, tilting his head back and exposing his neck. I aimed my dagger.

We both stilled, breathing hard.

Nico was looking at me like I was from another planet as I sat on his chest and held the dagger to his throat.

Slowly, I lowered it and let go of his hair. I rolled off his chest and collapsed beside him, letting the dagger fall out of my hand on the far side. We lay side-by-side staring up at the towering buildings that seemed to lean towards each other as they rose upwards.

After a few minutes of deep breathing and pointless staring, Nico rolled over and pushed himself to his feet. He stepped over me and retrieved his dagger, then went to get his sword.

I sat up and watched him.

He straightened and sheathed his sword before returning his black eyes to mine.

"That was unexpected," he said.

As if I needed to be told _that_.

"Do you have ADHD?"

"What? Why does it matter?" I grumbled.

He just looked at me darkly, like he expected me to answer him just because he looked scary.

I climbed to my feet and crossed my arms, staring him down.

He gave me what I assumed to be his fiercest death glare (it was pretty good since he looked vaguely like death itself), and I gave him my deepest scowl. The one I usually reserved for jerks-offs who acted like they ruled the school and treated Clara and I like lower-class.

Before either of us could say anything though, I heard Clara's voice come from just outside the entrance of the ally.

Both our heads whipped towards the sound.

"Oh please! I am _way_ awesomer than you!"

"As if! _I _am Leo Valdez! Super-sized McShizzle and bad boy supreme!"

"Super-sized McShizzle?" Clara cried. "What does that even _mean_?"

"I don't really know, but I am!"

She scoffed.

"No. What you _are_ is mentally unstable!"

"Hey! That's not-"

Both Clara and Leo stopped their arguing as they saw Nico and I-just inches apart as I now realised-glaring at them with burning faces.

"Oh, Nico, my man! We're not interrupting, are we? Cause we can get lost if you want…"

"No," Nico snapped.

He spun around and marched off into the shadows again and I stomped in the opposite direction towards Clara. I halted by her side and crossed my arms with too much aggression.

She noticed and said, "Leo, why don't you go…do something…"

Leo shrugged and waltzed over to the trashcan lid that I'd used to smack the blade from Nico's hand not so long ago. He picked it up and examined it like the weirdo he was.

Clara turned to me and examined my whole being. She knew how to read me, she would calm me down.

She pursed her lips and muttered, "Moron," under her breath before she lifted her arms full of shopping bags. "Look what I got!" she exclaimed.

I stared at her.

"More clothes?" I asked.

"No silly," she dropped them carefully to the ground and opened one up so that I could peer in. "It's the stuff we left at the mall! I made Leo take me back to get them!" she beamed at me.

I couldn't help but laugh.

"Seriously? How'd you do it?"

She shrugged.

"I sat down on the sidewalk and told him I wasn't going anywhere until he took me back to get the clothes," she explained. "He threatened to drag me back here by my hair if I didn't 'smarten up', but after getting elbowed in the face a few times and kneed, well, somewhere, he finally had to agree! We ran back and Leo snuck back in through the window and got all the bags. I am so happy!" she squealed.

"I can tell…" I muttered, absently rubbing my ear.

"Sorry," she blushed.

She didn't ask about what had happened with Nico, or what was wrong, she just prattled on about Leo's brand new friend that he's made in the store where they bought his shirt. And for that, I was grateful.

She always knew how to cheer me up, and pretty soon I was laughing right along with her.

_**thanks for reading! :) don't forget to review!**_


	5. Chapter 5

_**wow I seem to be on a roll here. 3 chapters in 3 days :) anyway I don't have much to say other than the fact that I would totally love some more reviews here people! oh, and also, I (completely unfortunately) do not own the percy Jackson characters :(**_

**Chapter 5**

**_Val's point of view_**

"We need to get to camp," Nico announced coolly.

Clara and I broke off our conversation and looked over at him.

"I knew it!" I heard Clara mutter to herself.

I gave her a curious look but she just bit her lip. I could tell she was fighting not to laugh, but I had no idea why.

"Can we even get them into camp boundaries?" Leo asked.

"We'll just have to talk to Chiron," Nico mused. "Maybe he can lower the border so we can get in."

Clara and I glanced uneasily at each other. She definitely wasn't laughing now.

"Okay, well how will we get there?" Leo challenged.

Nico frowned thoughtfully. He turned to us.

"Where are we?"

We both stared at him. What kind of question was that?

"Ottawa," Clara and I both answered him anyway.

Nico and Leo shared a surprised look.

"Canada?" Leo asked in disbelief.

We nodded. How had these two gotten here if they didn't even know where here _was_?

"Well," Nico mumbled. "It's better than China."

Okay, I was officially confused. To like, death. Confused to death. Yeah…that doesn't make sense, but neither did our current situation, so who really cares?

"Well, can you just shadow travel us to camp? I mean, if you concentrate on a certain place, it should work, right?" Leo asked uncertainly.

"No," Nico shook his head. "I don't have enough power right now to transport four people that far."

"Well, I hope you have a better idea then, because otherwise we're gonna have to sell Clara's clothes and buy a bus ticket! And getting there that way would take days!"

"Hey!" Clara cried in defence of her clothes.

There was a moment of silence before Nico grudgingly admitted, "I do."

We all looked at him expectantly. I wasn't sure _what_ we were expecting exactly, or why I wanted to hear it so much, I just did.

Nico scowled and muttered, "Let's IM Percy and ask him for a ride. If he comes on Blackjack we shouldn't be waiting very long."

"Who's Percy?"

"IM? Like instant messaging?"

Clara and I both waited for our questions to be answered, unfortunately, both boys just stared at us, almost like they'd forgotten we were with them. Or maybe just because we had no idea what they were talking about.

"And what's this camp you're talking about?" I demanded, glaring at them both. "We can't go with you, you know. Our parents are already going to have our heads, we are _not_ going anywhere else with you two lunatics!"

There was a moment of stunned silence before Leo's impish face broke out into a grin, and Nico glared at me even harder.

"It's called Camp Half-blood," Leo explained. "It's the only safe place on earth for demigods."

I sat there gaping at the crazy kid who I'm pretty sure just implied that he was a demigod. The son of a Greek god? Leo?

I must have laughed out loud, because Leo was whining, "It's true! I'm the son of Hephaestus, and Nico's the son of Hades."

Okay so, maybe I could see that. Maybe. But I mean, seriously? But even as I tried to deny it, something inside of me was relenting. Excepting what they were telling me.

_You fought a hydra earlier,_ it reminded me. _You just had a real sword fight with Nico, the son of death over there, _No, not Death, I corrected myself, warming up to this crazy idea, Hades.

_What else do you want? _

Hmm…I had a good point there. I'd been seeing crazy things all my life, but they were always dismissed as a combination of my overactive imagination and ADHD. I'd never actually considered the fact that I might _not_ be certifiable.

I glanced at Clara. I expected her to be freaking out beside me, or at least denying everything they were saying and demanding to be taken home. Maybe throwing a fit like she sometimes does. But she was just looking steadily at me like the boys were, waiting.

"You knew?"

She blushed.

"Yeah, Leo told me before," she mumbled, embarrassed.

"You told her?" Nico growled. "How much?"

"Only what was going on at the moment," he put his hands up defensively. "I swear!"

"Whatever," I grumbled half to myself.

But naturally, everyone looked at me.

"So you'll come?" Nico asked coolly, though I thought I saw a flicker of…something in his black eyes.

I hesitated. What would my mother say? She'd probably disown me and send me to an orphanage. Oh well. At least that would be better than living with her.

"C'mon Val," Clara pleaded. "When have you ever not jumped at a chance to go against your mom?"

Hmm…she _did_ have a good point there. If there was one thing I loved in this world, it was pissing off my mother. Ever since the death of my dad a few years ago, it had become a hobby of mine.

"Fine," I spat. "But I swear to all the gods, if you two get me killed…" I glared at both of them, and Leo had the good grace to look away, but Nico held my gaze, challenging me.

"Yey!" Clara seized my arm and jumped around beside me, rattling me around quite a bit.

Leo winced in understanding as her nails dug into my arm. I was used to it by now though, so I barely even noticed the stinging pain. It's not like I'd never had worse, I mean, I did karate and played hockey, soccer and baseball. I was used to getting hit, punched, kicked and speared.

"But seriously though, what's an IM?"

"It's an Iris Message. Kinda like a video call, but with rainbows and gold coins," Leo explained as Nico fished around in his pocket for  
something.

"Are you kidding me?" I grumbled. "A rainbow and gold coins? Will we get to see a leprechaun too?"

Leo laughed, "Hey, I never thought about that before!"

Nico pulled a gold coin from his pocket.

"No, he's not kidding. And sorry to disappoint, but no leprechauns. We have to find a spot to make a rainbow though, 'cause that's not happening in here," Nico twirled the coin through his fingers and started for the mouth of the ally, and Leo, Clara and I trailed behind him.

We wandered around until we came upon a little tourist shop that sold prisms that Nico insisted would do the trick. So following the son of Hades' (and my official nemesis as I'd decided) lead, we went scouting for a secluded place to make the "summoning".

We walked mostly in silence, with the rare joking comment from Leo, who was seriously starting to get on my nerves.

Uh oh, something I just noticed…that's something else that Nico and I have in common. Add that to our introvertness and whatever else I was forgetting, and that made at least two common things between us. Not good…

Just as I was contemplating stealing Nico's sword from under his coat so I could shut Leo up, Nico pointed to another ally.

As he started towards it I muttered, "I thought we were going somewhere _sunny_, not another dreary ally."

"Yeah," Clara agreed. "Rainbows don't appear in dark and gloomy places. It has to be happy and sunshiny!"

Leo looked at Clara weirdly.

"What have you been smoking there, Blondie?"

Nico glared at us over his shoulder.

"If you engaged your brains, perhaps you would see the latter leading up to the roof of that building."

We crossed the street and ducked into the ally. Nico lead us to a rusty metal latter hanging off the side of the building about eight feet off the ground.

"Are you kidding?" Clara exclaimed. She looked at me incredulously. "Is he kidding?"

"Yeah, Nico, how are we gonna get up to that thing?" Leo asked.

Nico just rolled his eyes and motioned him closer. After a brief hesitation, Leo moved towards him. He glanced up at the lowest rung of the latter uncertainly. None of us were very tall, Nico was probably a bit taller than Leo, making him the tallest. Which, honestly, irritated the heck out of me, because that made me the shortest. I was only an inch-maybe not even-shorter than Clara, but still.

So basically, to recap, we were three short kids-the tallest of us only five foot six by my best guess-trying to reach a latter hanging off the side of a building at least three whole feet above our heads.

Well wasn't _this_ going to be fun.

Attempting to focus back on the situation, I zoned into Nico talking.

"We'll get Clara up first. Leo put your hands like this," Nico laced his fingers and made a step with his hands that he showed to Leo. Leo did the same and rolled his eyes at the way Nico was instructing him to do things like he was a child.

Nico stepped back and nodded to Clara.

"I'll just keep watch so no one sees us, 'cause I'm fairly certain that we shouldn't be going up here," he ghosted to the mouth of the ally and stood guard with one hand on his sword hilt. I couldn't help but notice that Nico looked pretty…well, pretty good, I guess. He stood as still as a statue in the last shadow provided by the building we were next to. He kind of even reminded me of a dark prince from one of my favourite books…

"Aww," Clara cooed to Leo, loud enough so I could hear. "Look at Val gazing at her boyfriend! Isn't it just so adorable?"

She and Leo snickered as I glared at them, my face heating up, and I hoped that the latter might fall off the wall and knock them both unconscious. But alas, no such luck for me. On the bright side, Nico remained motionless by the entrance, if he'd heard, he at least had the decency to pretend that he hadn't.

"Just get up the stupid latter, before I throw you up there myself!" I threatened.

She giggled some more, but turned to Leo none the less. He re-laced his fingers together and stooped down a bit. Clara placed her foot in his grasp and awkwardly put one hand on Leo's shoulder, and the other flat against the wall for support.

"On three," she declared. "One…"

"Two…"

"Three!" I chimed in.

Leo hoisted Clara upwards with an awkward thrust and she scrambled for something to balance herself. She ended up hunched over and clutching Leo's curly locks as she balanced precariously on his hands.

"Ow!" he yelped.

Nico glanced over and I thought I saw him smile. At least a tiny bit.

I grumbled as I made my way over to the two brain-dead losers who were teetering back and forth as Clara threatened to topple right over. I reached up and grabbed her arms as Leo continued to complain, "Ow, ow, ow, ow…" and soon enough, Clara was steady where she was. I noticed that she was trying to jam her second foot on top of the one that was resting on Leo's hands.

"Here," I sighed, making a little step with my own hands to help her out.

She focussed on my hands and gently placed her foot on them. Slowly but surely, she evened out her weight and seemed to be pretty well balanced. She slowly reached up for the lowest rung on the latter and gabbed it with both hands. Little bits of orange rust fluttered down on us.

"You good?" I asked.

"I think so," Clara muttered.

"Okay, we're letting go…" I warned.

Leo and I unclasped our hands and backed away from Clara as she clung to the latter and tried her hardest to scramble up the side of the wall so she could get up farther and get her feet onto it. I smacked my forehead as she continued to flail around, wildly trying to fight her way up the latter.

"Can't you reach up to the second rung?" I demanded.

"Does it look like I can?" she snapped at me over her shoulder.

I saw Leo laughing openly at Clara's weak attempt to get up the latter.

"Oh, like _you_ could do any better," I growled at him.

He put his arms up in mock surrender and continued to chuckle.

"Ugh! I'm slipping!" Clara warned.

"Hold on," I dashed under her and positioned myself so that her feet rested on my shoulders. As I straightened I felt her weight fight against me, but I fought back. It wasn't like she was really heavy anyway, she only weighed like, a hundred pounds. When I reached my tiptoes I asked her, "Can you reach the second one yet?"

"I think so…"

I could only guess that she reached it because some of her weight receded.

"Okay, now see if you can get your foot up onto the first one," I instructed.

I heard her straining to get her foot high enough, but apparently she wasn't flexible enough. So of course, being the _awesome_ friend she is, she placed one of her feet on the top of my head and I let out a pained noise as my head tipped back with the odd weight. She didn't seem fazed though and she just adjusted herself so that the bottom of her boot was planted on the side of my face. It seemed to be just the extra little height that she needed though, because just as I was thinking that my neck was going to snap under her weight, it was all gone at once.

I looked up and saw her making her way up the latter, showering me in even more rust.

When she reached the top, she called down, "What are you guys waiting for? Are you coming up or what?" she laughed as she disappeared from view.

"Thank you?" I yelled up to her, totally aggravated now that I had her footprint on my face.

"Oh, no need to thank me," she called down, and I heard the teasing smile in her voice.

I silently cursed her. But before I could open my mouth and let loose the string of not very complimentary words towards my friend, Nico materialized beside me.

"We're wasting time," he muttered harshly at no one in particular, but I still felt like he was aiming his words at me. "We need to get up as fast as we can. I don't want another monster attack."

"I'll go next!" Leo volunteered. "I'll probably need all the help I can get," he joked, though I doubted he was wrong.

Nico rolled his eyes and scowled as he made his hands into a step for Leo and I followed suit. Leo started by putting a hand on each of our shoulders and inserting his foot into my hand. He hoisted himself up with his hands on mine and Nico's heads. He gripped my hair and wobbled precariously as he struggled to fine Nico's foothold. He finally managed to get his foot on the step Nico made with his pale hands.

There was a lot of shifting and grunting as Leo's legs shook and wobbled. Eventually we got him steadied, but I realised that Nico and I were all tangled up with each other as well as Leo's scrawny legs. I was half leaning into his chest and Leo was pushing our heads close together with his unbalanced wobbling.

It was weird being so close to Nico. He was sturdier than I would have expected him to be, and I could feel hard muscle under his thin t-shirt. Instead of radiating heat like, shall we say, a _normal _person, I could feel Nico's cool skin beneath his shirt. We were trying not to look at each other from our close proximity, but I couldn't help risking small glances at him because, let's just face it, he was pretty attractive. Leo made it even easier for me when his arms jerked and he knocked our heads together. Nico and I glared at each other like it was one of _our_ faults that Leo was unable to keep himself upright.

Finally though, Leo managed to grasp the ladder in his hands with some help from Clara after she'd recovered from her giggling fit. I made a mental note to kill her later.

After Leo hoisted himself up onto the latter and scrabbled up over the threshold of the roof (I could have sworn that he and Clara had exchanged sly grins as she pulled him up, but I couldn't be sure), Nico and I detangled ourselves and stepped away from each other.

"Well," Nico nodded coolly towards the latter, meaning it was my turn.

He probably thought I was going to be as bad as Leo and Clara trying to get up, but that wasn't likely. I'd been climbing things since before I could even walk. No joke.

So I flipped my hair and turned to the latter. I'd been thinking about the best way to get up as I'd watched Clara and Leo struggle, and determined that I would have to jump. Since the ally we were in was stripped of anything that I could have used as a little launching pad, I concluded that I'd just have to use the wall.

I motioned for Nico to move out of my way and backed up a few steps. I could see Leo and Clara peering down curiously at me from the roof, but I ignored the little twits.

I cracked my neck and bounced on my toes for a second before I shot forwards. I launched myself straight at the wall and rebounded off it like I'd done it a thousand times. Truth is though, this didn't usually work for me, but I was determined to do it just to show Nico that I wasn't some helpless little girl. I reached up and just as I thought I was going to come up short and come crashing down to the pavement, I felt the rough metal brush against my fingers and I closed my grip. I caught the bar perfectly. I didn't slip, I didn't fall, I just grabbed on and held tight. After waiting barely a breath, I kicked off the wall and reached up for the second rung of the latter. I pulled myself quickly up the rest of the latter and climbed over the ledge.

Clara blew hair out of her eyes and playfully muttered, "Show off!"

I grinned at her and turned around with my arms crossed. I stared down at Nico as he did the same looking up at me.

He studied me as Leo muttered to Clara behind me, "What is she? And acrobat?"

I rolled my eyes at him. Even if he couldn't see it, I'm guessing it was pretty obvious because Leo exclaimed, "What? It was an honest question! You're like some kind of ninja! I wouldn't be surprised if you back flipped right off the roof to get down!"

I supressed a smile and turned to give Clara a dopey look. When she saw my face she burst out laughing and my face split into a grin as she laughed herself to death.

I turned back around and saw that Nico was gone from down below us. I frowned and checked to see if he was on the latter, but it was unoccupied at the moment. The next thing I knew, it was like a shadow was unfolded right in front of me and Nico stepped out of the black mass. I yelped and sat down hard on my butt and looked up at Nico towering above me as he tossed Clara's shopping bags at me and gave me a deadly smirk.

I growled and pushed myself to my feet. This kid was really getting on my nerves.

I spun on my heal and strode to Clara's side. Not the smartest idea I've ever had. She'd obviously been watching the whole ordeal with her crazy matchmaking eyes. And when I say that, I don't mean she was always trying to find me the perfect boyfriend like some girls' best friends would do. No. she decided whether every guy I ever associated with was going to be my boyfriend, my husband, or my secret lover. So far, in her eyes I had about a million boyfriends, a ton of husbands, and I'm pretty sure I now had a tall, dark and handsome lover as well.

Obviously, this was _not_ something I enjoyed.

I could tell she was trying her hardest not to launch into our wedding plans, and I guess that was one thing I could count on. Whenever she teased me about this stuff, she never did it in front of the guy in question.

Leave it to Leo to get us back on track though during our awkward silence. As I simmered and Clara bubbled and Nico glowed in triumph, Leo piped up.

"Nico, you have the prism, right? 'Cause, as you mentioned before, we need to get that message to camp and get a lift as fast as possible. Am I right?"

Nico's cool gaze slid from me to Leo and he frowned a tiny bit before he nodded. He slipped the prism out of his coat pocket and held it up in the sunlight.

He turned it a multitude of different ways and walked around the roof like he was looking for a signal on a phone. Finally, he stopped and held up the prism. From where I was standing, I could see a rainbow glimmering in the air beneath it. He motioned impatiently for Leo to come over to where he was standing. As Leo paraded towards Nico, Clara and I followed curiously.

Nico handed him the prism and gestured for him to hold it up and move to where Nico had been standing a moment before. The rainbow shimmered into existence again and Nico placed himself so that he was facing it squarely.

Clara and I creeped up on either side of him as he chanted, "O Iris, goddess of the rainbow," he held up the coin like he was showing it off to the rainbow. "Show me Percy Jackson, Camp Half-blood."

Nico tossed the coin into the rainbow, and I seriously thought it was going to just plow right through the delicate image hovering in the air. But instead, the coin seemed to enter the rainbow like it was a portal or something. The image shimmered and Clara and I drew a collective breath from either side of Nico.

Leo held the crystal out at an awkward angle and tried to maneuver himself so that he could see as well. The image began to come into focus, and when it did, I swear, the first thing I thought was that I didn't think I'd ever see this son of Hades turn as bright red as he did at that moment in my life ever again.

Because, in the rainbow which had transformed into something almost like a floating video screen, there was a boy who I assumed to be Percy Jackson, and he was with a girl.

But, that wasn't what made me and Clara's eyes pop out of our heads and Leo to splutter and Nico's face to go from corpse white to beat red in half a second flat.

It was the fact that the boy was missing his shirt, and he and the blond haired girl seemed to be having a rather…intense moment while lying piled on top of each other on a single bed in a vaguely dim room. They obviously didn't notice us in the rainbow at first because they kept kissing each other fervently until Leo, always the jokester, decided to whistle and exclaim very loudly, "_Damn_!"

_**thanks for reading! don't forget to review :)**_


	6. Chapter 6

_**and chapter six is revealed! I am really hoping for some more reviews here guys! this is pretty discouraging. but I would like to say that if you have reviewed, thank you! I really appreciate it. anyway without anything subsequent to say to you guys (other than the reviews!) I will get on with the story ;)**_

_**disclaimer: I do not own Leo or Nico or any of uncle Rick's other fabulas characters and/or ideas**_

**Chapter 6**

**_Clara's point of view_**

Damn indeed. If we popped in five minutes later I'm pretty sure I would have been totally traumatized.

At the sound of Leo's voice, the girl shoved the boy (who I assumed to be Percy) off of her and he went toppling off the bed and spilled to the floor out of view of the Iris Message.

She was sitting up in an extremely rumpled t-shirt and dishevelled curly, princess-like blond hair. I've got to admit, her stormy grey eyes were pretty scary, with a look that said she wanted to find the best way possible to demolish us (and in our case that was probably true).

"Nico, Leo," she glared as she finger combed her hair. "What do you guys want?"

I noticed Nico was bright red, and didn't meet the girl's eyes as he spluttered uselessly.

_He totally has a crush on her!_

Weird to think that this kid actually _liked_ anyone…and that totally messed up my plan! Well, maybe not, I mean, she was obviously taken, and by the looks of it she was a few years older than we were anyway. Maybe sixteen or seventeen?

A mop of glossy black hair popped up into view from the floor as a super attractive guy pushed himself into a kneeling position and looked at us with shocking green eyes. He had a blush almost as bad as Nico's as he glanced back at the girl.

"Hey, you guys! What's up?" at least he sounded friendly, and not like he wanted to tear us to shreds.

I waited for Nico to answer, but no sound came from where he was. I looked over and realised that he wasn't even there anymore! And since Val was off to one side giving Nico a weird look as he sulked out of view of the Iris Message, and Leo off to the side holding the little prism, that left me standing front and center, and they were both staring at me.

"Ah…we-I-ah…hi" I stammered weakly.

The girl raised a perfect eyebrow at me, unimpressed. But the boy just gave me a lopsided grin and introduced himself.

"The name's Percy, nice to meet-cha."

I nodded slowly, but other than that I was still frozen by the blond girl's intimidatingly stormy gaze.

"Here, Blondie," Leo piped up after a second or two of awkward silence. "Switch spots with me."

He handed me the prism and centered himself to the rainbow image, ginning.

"Hope we didn't interrupt anything Perce," he laughed. But I didn't think there was anything funny about the glare the blond girl shot him as Leo continued, "But we think we found out what part of the prophecy means."

The girl leaned forwards with her penetrating gaze leveled on Leo. I wasn't sure how he could just stand there and act as though she wasn't even there.

"Wait," she narrowed her eyes skeptically. "You're saying you figured out a line from the prophesy?"

"Jeez, Annabeth," Leo rolled his eyes. "Don't sound so impressed."

She frowned but looked at Percy who shrugged and returned his eyes to Leo.

"Which one?" he asked.

"Well, we're standing here with mortals while making an Iris Message, Percy," he said sarcastically. "I wonder which line it could be?"

"So, what are you saying? That you just happened to stumble upon two mortals who were able to see through the mist-and it would have to be at least two you know, because of the line about tempting the fates-and figured out two lines of the prophecy just like that?" Annabeth crossed her arms and looked doubtful.

"That's _exactly_ what I'm saying," Leo promised.

"Well then, where's the other one?" Percy asked. "I mean, I see one, but that's all," Suddenly it looked like a thought struck him. "Where'd Nico go?"

As Leo grinned and told Percy, "Oh, the poor boy was probably traumatized seeing you two getting all cozy together and ran off," I looked behind where the Iris Message was projecting and saw Val and Nico standing together.

But from the way Val stood with her arms crossed and chin up, and Nico's stiff stance with one hand under his coat and resting on his sword hilt, it looked like they were arguing. And as I tried to listen in to their conversation, they were nice enough to raise their voices to make it even easier for me.

"Are you kidding me?" Val nearly shrieked, leaning in towards him.

"Does it look like it?"

"Well, that is undoubtedly a brazen assumption for someone who does not know me," she sniffed, leaning back again.

It was quiet for a moment before Nico growled exasperatedly, "_What_?"

I saw Val scowl.

"It means you're stupid," she spat. "You think I won't hurt you, but anyone who knows me would know that I most certainly _would_."

"Oh please! A little mortal girl like you? You couldn't hurt me if I spotted you my sword and stood here for you like a dummy."

Uh oh, he did not just say that. I started to try for Leo's attention, but he ignored me at first.

"Oh really?" Val challenged. "Because I'm pretty sure I could have easily done so before, you _snot rag_!"

"_Leo_…" I mumbled urgently and tugged at his shirt as I waited for what I knew was about to happen.

Leo looked over, but it was too late.

"Ha! Yeah right! There's _no way_ you could! And you know why?" Nico snarled. "It's because you don't have the-"

Val's hand twitched and balled into a tight fist. She swung it at Nico, throwing her whole weight into her punch. When her hand connected with Nico's face, there was a spurt of blood, and the poor kid clutched at his nose as he crumpled to the ground with a very loud grunt of pain.

"Oh shit!" Leo exclaimed as he took off towards Nico.

I was left standing there all alone not sure if I was allowed to move or not.

"What's going on?" Percy's voice wined from the rainbow image.

"Leo? What happened?" Annabeth called.

When no one answered, Annabeth called out uncertainly, "Is anyone still there?"

"Umm, yeah…" I mumbled.

I maneuvered into view of Annabeth and Percy and gave a little nervous wave as Annabeth scrutinized me. But Percy smiled. And I've got to admit, he looked fantabulas when he smiled (not that he looked anything less than fabu when he didn't).

"What's happening?" she demanded.

"Ahh, well," I fidgeted a bit before I muttered, "Val just punched Nico in the face…" I squinted towards the jumble of people. Okay, well not really jumble, but Leo was hovering over Nico who was propped up on his elbow and trying to stop his nose from bleeding and moaning something as Val stood with her arms crossed a few feet away smirking devilishly.

"I think she broke his nose…" I muttered distractedly.

"What?" Percy sounded astonished.

"Why did she hit him?" Annabeth asked, sounding concerned.

"I don't know exactly, but I heard them arguing and I think he insulted her. Probably took a jab at her pride."

"Hmm..." Annabeth mused.

Val looked up at me and grinned.

She marched right up to me and snickered, "That hurt, but it was _so_ worth it!"

She continued to grin as she massaged her wrist and watched Leo pulled an oil rag out from his tool belt and hand it to Nico who proceeded to stuff it half up his nose. Val laughed in delight and I couldn't help but giggle at how funny Nico looked. If I ignored the dark red blood that covered Nico's chin and dribbled down his neck in thick globs and soaked into his shirt, he looked _really_ funny.

"Ahem…"

Val and I both spun and looked into the image. Annabeth and Percy were both looking at us curiously. Well, Percy was looking at us curiously, Annabeth's look was more calculating than anything.

Val eyed them warily as I stammered, "Oh, er, Percy and Annabeth, this is Val…oh, and I'm Clara by the way," I added once I realised that I'd forgotten to introduce myself.

Percy smiled widely.

"Hi."

Annabeth nodded to her. She seemed impressed that Val had had the courage to punch Nico so hard that she broke his nose. I guess I could agree with her though, because he was scary as, well, the underworld I guess.

Percy must have realised that he was still sitting on the floor then, because he blushed lightly and bounced up onto the bed next to Annabeth. He contently wrapped his arm around her and she leaned into his chest with a faint smile on her lips.

Suddenly Leo called over to us from where he was struggling to get Nico into a sitting position against the ledge at the edge of the roof.

"Tell him where we are, Blondie!"

"What?" Percy questioned. He must have heard Leo's voice but not what he'd said.

"Umm," I glanced at Val uncertainly. I wasn't quite sure what to say.

"We're in Canada," she offered with a shrug.

"Canada?" both demigods in the image exclaimed, completely astonished.

"Yeah, Ottawa," I replied awkwardly. I didn't get what the big deal was, where were _they_ anyway?

Just as if Val had read my mind, she threw up her hands and cried, "Why is everyone so surprised when we say that?"

"Well, it's just, last we heard form Nico and Leo, they were in Louisiana." Annabeth explained. "And that was, what?" she turned to Percy. "A day and a bit ago?"

He shrugged and suggested, "It's better than China."

"Hmm, I suppose…"

"So what's up with you guys calling us?" Percy asked us.

"Oh, _well_…" we gave them the rundown on what had happened since Leo and Nico had run into us in the mall.

Annabeth was a good listener, she looked at us calmly and didn't interrupt. Meanwhile, Percy fidgeted with the tips of Annabeth's hair and looked like he wanted to say something the whole time, especially when I mentioned that Val was the one to kill the hydra. But every time he opened his mouth, Annabeth squeezed his hand (I suspected she was digging her nails in a bit too), and he clamped it shut again.

"So, that's about it I think…," I summed up.

"But we need some transport, Perce!" Leo called out as he jogged up to us. "Nico can't shadow travel us all to camp from here, especially not now," he gave Val a look that was half serious, half trying-not-to-laugh.

"Wait," Percy straightened and looked confused. "You're coming to camp?"

"Well, yeah…we're gonna have to so that we can get these guys all geared up to come with us. We're gonna need them."

"But I don't think Chiron-"

"Oh! That reminds me!" Leo cut Annabeth off hastily. "Can you let him know about us coming Annabeth?"

She sighed and grumbled, "Sure."

Percy shifted and retracted his arm from around Annabeth so he could lean forwards with his forearms on his knees.

"So, what do you want me to do?"

As Leo explained what he needed Percy to do, Val and I broke off from the conversation and I asked her, "So what happened? What'd he do?"

She rolled her eyes and whispered, "I started off teasing him about his face when the Iris Message went through, right," she explained. "And he got all defensive. Said I should just shut up before he kicked my ass," she rolled her eyes again with the hint of a teasing smile on her lips. "So I told him that he could always try, but he wouldn't be able to do it, so I would just keep making fun of him. That's when he got all peevish, like, even more than he has been. And then he was like," she puffed out her chest and made a sullen and angry face that I assumed to be an imitation of Nico's, deepened her voice and quoted, "You're just a girl, you couldn't do anything to stop me!" she shrugged. "I think that's about where you clued in, isn't it?"

I nodded.

"Well, yeah," She concluded with a satisfied grin.

"It looks like you hit him pretty hard," I observed. "He looks kinda dizzy."

Val shrugged indifferently as Leo walked over.

"'Kay you guys, Percy's on his way to come pick us up. He says he should be here in an hour or two. So, I guess we've got some time to kill," Leo gave us a lopsided grin.

"Wait a minute," Val protested. "Where is it exactly that we're going?"

"We already told you, Camp Ha-"

"No, _where_?"

"Oooh…umm, well it's in New York."

"New York?" Val and I exclaimed.

"Yeah…" Leo gave us a strange look. "Long Island Sound."

"Oh, my _gods_!" I squealed. "I've always wanted to go to New York!"

"Slow down there, Blondie. We're not going on a sightseeing trip here. We're getting in and out as fast as we can."

"But-"

"Look on the bright side Clara. Maybe you can convince Leo to take you back there for a tour _after_ the quest." Val suggested slyly. "I mean, he'll kinda owe you one after almost getting us killed in the mall, not to mention he's dragging to across another country at the risk being beheaded by _both_ our parents and mauled by not-so-mythical monsters." She shot me a quick wink and turned to give Leo a meaningful look.

"Oh, ah, yeah! Great idea!"

"Yey!"

"So…in the meantime, what are we gonna do?" Val asked. "And what are we gonna do about _him_."

I followed her gaze and saw Nico still propped up against the ledge and munching on the rice crispy square thingy with the oil rag still stuffed up his nose.

"Oh, he'll be fine in a few minutes," Leo promised, waving away the question. "But, as to what we're going to do…" he trailed off and a devilish grin crept across his face.

Whatever he was going to suggest, I probably wasn't going to like it.

"How 'bout we catch a movie?" I interjected.

"But-"

"Great idea!" Val cut Leo off before he could protest. "What should we see?"

"Well, we could-"

"You guys probably don't have enough money…"

"Just see what's playing when we get there?" Val suggested, ignoring Leo's feeble attempts at protesting.

"Exactly. And, besides," I turned to Leo. "It's toonie Tuesday at Rainbow."

"Umm, rainbow?"

"Yeah," Val explained and rolled her eyes. "Rainbow cinema. At the mall we were just at. We were planning to see a movie anyway once we were done shopping and, since our shopping trip got cut short…"

"We totally have enough money for you guys to get in!" I finished perkily.

"Great…" the way he said it sounded like he didn't think it was so great.

"Awesome! Let's go!" I linked arms with Val and we flounced off towards the roof access latter, pretending to be oblivious to Leo's reluctance.

"Should we just leave our bags here?" I asked Val as I remembered all our clothes.

She took a moment to consider before she replied, "Yeah, stash them in a corner or something."

So once I had "hidden" our bags in a shadowed corner, I made my way back over to Val who was waiting for me by the latter. I stopped at the top and considered how I would get down without killing myself.

Val rolled her eyes and asked, "Do you want me to go first?" but she was already in motion, swinging her leg onto the first rung and climbing down.

When she reached the last rung, she crouched on it and grabbed the second one. She jumped off the last bar and kept a tight hold of the one above. With the way she got up before, I was kinda hoping she'd tank this and fall on her face so I could laugh at her. But of course, she didn't. She put her legs out so that her feet met with the wall at the bottom of her arc. Once she was hanging, she quickly switched herself to the very last rung and then smoothly dropped the extra like, two and a half feet to the ground.

She shook her bangs out of her eyes and gave me an encouraging nod as she backed out of my way.

With a deep breath, I mimicked her actions and climbed down the rusty old latter, feeling the harsh metal bite into my palms. Once I reached the last rung, I did just as Val had before me, and before I knew it, I was letting go of the bar and dropping lightly to the ground.

Val clapped me on the shoulder and cried, "Nice!"

I couldn't help but grin. After what I'd done while trying to get _up_ that letter…well, I think it goes without saying that I was excited to have been able to get down it without incident.

Val and I settled against the ally wall and waited for Leo and Nico to get themselves down the latter.

After a few moments of pointless conversation about squirrels, Val huffed in exasperation and yelled up to the roof, "Hey, you guys! Get your demigod butts down here!"

Next thing I knew, Leo was swinging over the top of the latter and sliding down it with his feet and hands on the vertical bars, until he dropped less-than-gracefully to the ground. Nico followed suit, moving as silently as a shadow as he descended. His feet barely made a sound as he let himself drop off the end of the latter.

"This is gonna be great!" I informed everyone, receiving one grin from Leo, one eye roll from Val, and one moody glare from Nico.

As we made our way out of the ally and back towards the mall, I thought I heard Nico and Leo mumbling together.

"This is ridicules. We're making ourselves vulnerable."

"Oh, quit your wining, you're just grumpy that I'm dragging you along!"

Instead of replying, Nico brushed past me and marched ahead of us, forcing us all to quicken our pace to keep him in sight.

"What a grump," Val rolled her eyes.

"Pfft, you're one to talk," I told her somewhat jokingly.

She scowled at me and walked a little faster, leaving me next to Leo.

After a moment of examining Val and Nico's figures, I decided, "They are absolutely perfect for each other."

Leo nodded in agreement and said, "We're so getting them together. Whether they like it or not," I chimed in.

We both looked at each other and laughed.

Gotta love awkwardly saying things at the same time as some cute guy you barely know.

We spent the rest of the time walking back to the mall hurrying after Val, who was keeping up well with Nico. They both weaved in and out of the crowd, muscling their way through hold ups. Leo and I tried our best to keep up, and there were a few times where we lost them and Leo had to stand on a bench or a concrete base for a lamp post to find them again, but over all I thought we did pretty good.

And the whole time we talked and laughed and shared funny stories.

One thing I noticed was that whenever he thought I wouldn't notice, Leo would sneak glances over at me. And a few times I caught him a bit closer to me than he needed to be, causing our arms to brush against one another's, making me blush.

So as we walked, I contemplated the boy that was beside me and I decided, I really liked having him near me. And I hoped he wouldn't be leaving anytime soon.

_**thanks for reading! pleas don't forget to review**_


	7. Chapter 7

_**hey you guys :) sorry I haven't updated in a while I had a bunch of tests that I had to study for and just haven't had time to write or update :( anyway...ON WITH THE STORY!**_

_**disclaimer: I do not own the pj characters! it is unfortunate, but I really don't**_

**Chapter 7**

**_Val's point of view_**

"Well that wasn't as bad as I thought it'd be," Leo declared.

"Told you," Clara huffed.

I rolled my eyes at the two of them. The whole movie they'd sat with their heads bent together arguing quietly about the movie.

We'd seen RIPD and it was pretty good. Clara and I had been planning on seeing it ever since we first saw the trailer.

I also kind of thought that the boys would enjoy it, what with it being about dead secret agents and all, and it looked like Leo had. But about halfway through, I saw Nico get up from three seats away from me on the other side of Leo and slink out of the theater. I'm not even sure anyone else noticed.

"Hey, wait a minute," Leo stopped so fast that I slammed into his back.

He looked back at me and asked, "Where's Nico?"

"As if I would know!" I huffed, crossing my arms roughly.

"Well sure..."

"Oh, don't even start, Clara!" I grumbled, storming past the two little…_love birds_.

"_Someone's_ a little huffy," Clara chided.

"Does it look like I care?"

I lead the way out of the theater and back towards our meeting place on top of the roof. If I was guessing right, Nico had probably gone back there already and would be waiting for us.

I was starting to wish I'd gone with him, though. Being around both Clara and Leo was hard. They were both just so much alike! The same apparent need to constantly be annoying, the same love for being social, I would continue, but I find it quite impossible to think with their continuous chatter behind me.

I growled quietly and dug my nails into the palms of my hands.

Sometimes I wondered how Clara and I were even friends. We were both so different. I was such an introvert, and she is such a social butterfly. I hate being around people, and she loves it! Not to mention that she was nice to _everybody_. And I was nice to no one.

Hmm…the more I wallowed in self-pity, the more I realized how much Nico and I seemed to be alike.

_Well, moving on from that…_I decided.

So I let my mind wander pointlessly until I reached what I thought was the right alleyway. I turned around to check with Leo, but him and Clara were both gone. Whether I'd left them behind in my haste, or they'd been abducted by a balding, middle aged man in a white van, I guess wouldn't know unless I saw them again.

So with feigned confidence, I marched across the road and straight into the ally. Once I located the same rusty metal latter from before, I began to feel a bit better. I looked around, but there was no sign that Nico had come back here, and no sign of Leo and Clara.

I jumped up for the latter and wrestled my way up, not caring enough to go for the style points again. Clambering over the threshold of the roof, I glanced around for any sign of Nico.

Satisfied that the roof was empty, I made for the little shaded area where Clara stowed the shopping bags. Only, as I got closer, I noticed something else enveloped in the darkest part of the roof. Something watching me.

A pale face loomed in the darkness, staring out at me with dark eyes.

I nearly jumped out of my own skin before I realized that it was only Nico, hiding in the shadows.

We examined each other for a few minutes, standing in stony silence, before he asked, "Where is Leo?"

I blinked and rolled my eyes. _Of course_ he would only ask about Leo.

"I don't know," I told him with a shrug, taking pleasure in the irritated look that crossed Nico's face.

"What do you mean, _you don't know_?"

"I _mean_," I growled at him. "We were split up on the way back here. It's not my fault that they were so wrapped up in each other that they couldn't keep up," I sniffed.

Nico frowned at the ground by my feet.

"So you walked back alone?"

I shrugged.

"Mostly, I think."

I shifted my weight and fanned my face lightly. It was like, thirty frickin degrees outside and I was standing in a black shirt and totally unprotected right out in the sun. I really, _really_ wanted to go sit in the shade, but I didn't want to have to go that near Nico.

So as he frowned thoughtfully at nothing in particular, I scanned the roof for other spots of shade. But of course, there were none. Not a single sliver of shade resided anywhere else on the roof. It was all provided by the little hut that Nico sat leaning against.

With an aggravated sigh of defeat, I headed over towards Nico and the blessed shade.

I slouched down against the wall near the bags. Picking through one of them, I pretended not to notice Nico scrutinizing me from five feet away.

From my brand new shaded spot, I could see Nico better, which definitely made me feel more secure than before.

He'd shed his black trench coat in the afternoon heat, and lounged with his back against the wall and one leg pulled up near his chest, his pale arms wrapped loosely around it. His other leg stretched out in front of him, black combat boot clad foot flopping lazily to one side. His sword rested about half a foot from him, set down at a casual distance but near enough so that he was able to grab it at a moments' notice.

I sat stiffly with my back half facing him and my legs crossed in front of me until I couldn't take his ominous staring any longer. I threw down the shirt I was examining and whipped around to face him. His wary expression hardened and his arms twitched, making it look like he was going to make a grab for his sword.

"What?" I snapped.

He quirked a brow and quipped, "Nothing," before turning his head away from me.

I kept glaring at him through narrowed eyes for a moment before I realised something.

There was a _huge_ bruise on his face.

His nose was straight, no clue that it had ever been broken, though I was sure it had been. My hand hurt enough for it to be broken, not to mention the distinct break-like noise I'd heard when my fist made contact. But no, it was perfectly straight. But gracing his pale skin was a dark purple-blue bruise that lead from the bridge of his nose to under his left eye, and trailed downwards from the side of his nose towards his mouth.

_Wow. I never knew I would do that much damage._

I frowned thoughtfully and contemplated asking him about his nose. Now that I thought about it, I could have sworn that it had been crooked earlier. Though, I suppose I could have been mistaken, what with the way he'd hung his head and let his hair cover most of his face on the way to the theater.

Just as I decided to ask, there was a clattering sound from down below the roof, coming from the direction of the latter.

Both Nico and I whipped our heads in the direction of the metallic clang. I cautiously rose to my feat, curious to see what it was making the noise.

"Sit down!" Nico hissed.

I ignored his warning and snuck towards the latter. I was seriously wondering what it could be. I doubted it was Leo and Clara, because I don't think they could have been quiet enough to get into the ally without us hearing them.

_Maybe it's another monster…_

As I snuck up to the edge of the roof, I could hear weird snuffling and snorting sounds drifting up from the ground. A few feet away from the latter I crouched low to peer over the ledge as Nico stalked up behind me.

I heard Nico grunt form close beside me. And a moment later, I saw why.

As my eyes locked on what was making the noise, I growled softly and rolled my eyes.

Leo and Clara were down in the ally, looking as if they'd been trying to sneak up on us. Though I don't know what gave them the illusion that they could make it up the latter by themselves when they could barely make it with two people hoisting them up. For some unknown reason, they were both laughing so hard that Clara had clamped both her hands over her mouth and was leaning against Leo for support so she didn't collapse on the spot. Leo had one hand covering his mouth, and the other was gripping Clara's upper arm so hard his knuckles were white and her skin was bright red.

Their muffled laughter was the weird snuffling sound we'd heard from our perches on the roof, and the clanging must have been one of them falling off the latter or something ridicules like that.

_Okay, since when did these two become so chummy? _

With a sigh, I realised that they'd been alone for a good while since the mall. And knowing Clara, she'd probably hang out with Leo now that she'd found someone more interesting than her antisocial best friend.

I scowled and retreated back to my spot in the shade.

Nico's eyes followed me as I sulked back into the shadows, but when I turned to glare at him, he returned his attention back to Leo and Clara.

"They're not going to get up here without help, you know," Nico pointed out in a monotone.

I shrugged and sneered, "Let them struggle."

He stared at me for some reason I will never understand for an impossibly long time. Finally, he turned back to the edge of the roof, examining the scene below him.

"You two should probably get up here. Percy should be here soon to pick us up."

I couldn't see what was going on down on ground level, but I'm guessing someone fell (I suspected it was Clara), because I heard a yelp and a heavy thud, followed by thunderous laughter.

"We can't-" I heard Clara gasp, choking on laughter. "Get up!" she finally managed, before dissolving in a fit of cooped up giggles all over again.

I felt the scowl on my face deepen as I listened to the two of them laughing together.

I saw muscles in Nico's arms ripple subtly as he crossed his arms tightly across his chest. His back was to me, but I could picture his pale mouth pressed into a thin, grim line.

I continued to examine him as he waited out Leo and Clara's laughing fit. His black jeans hugged his legs, and I realized that he must be pretty well muscled underneath all that black clothing. His oversized t-shirt flapped around him every time there was a gust of wind. I found myself staring at the back of his head every time the wind stirred his hair. It looked so soft, like silk.

I fingered my own hair. Not as dark as his, nor as velvety smooth looking.

With a growl I shook myself out of my reverie and clued back into the present.

Apparently Leo and Clara had calmed down, because Nico was speaking to them.

"I know, but Val doesn't seem to want to help you up. She seems to find it entertaining seeing you two fight a battle you obviously will not win against a latter."

With a start, I realized that this was the first time he'd said my name. It sounded nice the way it rolled off his tongue. Normally, I didn't like the way it sounded when people said my name. But I hated my real name even more. _Valarie_. What kind of name is that? So I usually just put up with the slightly awkward way it sounded. In fact, I'm not even sure how many people know my full name.

"Wow, thanks, _bestie_!" Clara joked, startling me out of my weird thoughts and back into reality.

I didn't answer though.

Nico glanced at me quickly before turning back to Leo who was in the midst of complaining, "Dude, seriously this time. Can't you shadow travel us up there or something?"

"Would you drop the shadow travel idea already!" Nico commanded.

Leo made a reluctant noise as Clara wined, "Then how do we get up?"

"Figure it out!" I shouted at her.

There was a pause where I pictured Clara frowning slightly and cocking her head to one side, confused. Then there was some scuffing and shuffling, and little grunts and yelps were soon to follow.

Nico slid over to me and leaned against the wall about a foot from where I sat. I looked up at him angrily and raised my eyebrow. He furrowed his 'brows as he frowned thoughtfully down at me.

"For a mortal, you are pretty accepting, you know that?" he commented.

There was a big thump from the direction of the latter and someone cried out in pain.

Nico never broke eye contact.

I narrowed my eyes at the horizon and shrugged.

"You don't ask about gods, or monsters, or weapons..." He mused. "And," he crouched down and peered at me from under the tips of his hair. "You did kill that hydra."

As if I didn't know.

"Leo mentioned you two took a mythology class," he prompted. "Said Clara told him you guys were pretty into it."

"So?" I quipped. "What's your point?"

I realized I probably should have been a little more civilized. I mean, there I was sitting all alone and Nico comes over and attempts to talk to me. Even if it was just about something stupid. He was obviously not a conversationalist, and that was okay. Neither was I.

But I didn't have to be all snippy. Especially after he gave me what I _think_ could be considered as a compliment! But…hey. Old habits die hard, right?

Fortunately, Nico didn't snap at me, or threaten to lop off my head with his sword. He let the subject drop and rolled into a sitting position, closing his eyes and leaning his head back against the wall.

We sat in silence, listening to the sounds of Leo and Clara arguing and the muffled noises from traffic and pedestrians.

I quickly found myself glancing at Nico inconspicuously as he sat beside me, head tilted back and long legs stretched out and crossed at the ankles. I watched as the strain slowly drained from his face and the tension in his shoulders receded.

It was then that I realised just how handsome Nico was. With his hair falling away from his face, I was able to study him. The skin on his face was just as pale as the rest of him, making him look almost albino white. His cheeks and eyes were slightly sunken, casting dark shadows across his pale skin like he wasn't used to frequent meals.

With a sigh, I turned my head back towards the latter and wondered if the two buffoons were making any progress. I was tempted to go and peek down at them, but I didn't really want to see them together.

After approximately, let's say…_eternity_, I noticed what looked like two birds spiraling in our direction. I watched them dip and dive and saw the darker one do barrel rolls as it plummeted straight downwards. At the last possible second, the bird pulled up and continued calmly in our direction.

As they drew near, I noticed they were pretty big, and I started to wonder what type they were. I ran through larger bird's names in my head as I continued to watch them.

_Eagles? No too weirdly coloured. Condors? No, I don't even think we have condors in Canada. Flamingos? Er…probably not. Wow, ok. Those things are really big!_

I leaned forwards intently as they came closer. Either it was my imagination, or they were headed straight for us.

I stared at the two shapes so hard my eyes started skipping and I started seeing spots.

_I must be crazy. Those look like…horses._

I slowly climbed to my feet as two pegasi descended from above me.

I faintly registered Clara's awed exclamation and Leo laughing lightly. And I vaguely noticed Nico lazily open one eye and peer over at me. But mostly, my attention was on the flying horses.

I honestly don't know why I didn't see it coming. Seriously, I'd already fought a hydra and been introduced to two demigods just _today_. So why did this surprise me?

"You should help Leo and Clara up here," Nico was suddenly beside me. "I think they gave up."

I nodded and darted off towards the latter.

"Finally!" Clara cried, bouncing to her feet, and Leo followed her slightly less enthusiastically. "I thought you were just going to leave us down here to rot!"

"That doesn't even make sense you know…" I murmured as I climbed down the latter.

Once I reached the last rung, I twisted around and reached down for Clara's hand. She reached up for mine and we clasped each other's wrists. I hauled her up with a grunt and she nearly pushed me right off the latter as she climbed around me and made her way to the roof. I shook my head and turned back around to help Leo.

By the time we were all up, the pegasi had landed on the roof, and Percy was standing next to a beautiful black pegasus with his hand resting on its neck and talking to Nico.

The other pegasus was cream coloured and just as beautiful as the black one. It held its wings half extended in a nervous way, eyeing Nico as if he were going to attack.

"Eh! Guido!" Leo cried enthusiastically, throwing his hands in the air and making his way towards the cream coloured pegasus. He placed one hand on his nose and the other on his neck. The pegasus ducked his head in protest, but Leo managed to grab him anyway. "This guy loves me," Leo laughed.

The pegasus snorted and stomped his hoof a few times in reply.

"Guido!" Percy scolded. "What did I tell you about your language? Even if you don't like him, you don't have to be mean!"

The pegasus shook his head and snorted in response and Leo backed away warily.

"What did he say about me?"

"Umm…" Percy glanced at Clara and I out of the corner of his eye. "It doesn't matter," he decided. "Let's just get mounted up."

He turned to the black pegasus and smoothed his mane.

"Leo, you'll have to take one of the girls on Guido. Think you can manage?"

Leo grinned and bragged, "Pfft, are you kidding me? I was born for this! C'mon Clara!" he grabbed Clara's hand and dragged her towards the pegasus. I held in a light chuckle as her face flushed and she started babbling.

"You want me to get on that thing? It doesn't seem very safe. What if I fall off? What if you fall off? What would I do then? I can't drive-er-_fly_ one of these!"

I returned my attention to Percy and the lovely black pegasus uncertainly. He gave me a warm smile and beckoned me over.

"Looks like you're with me. C'mon!"

I strayed over as he smoothly mounted the pegasus.

"Will you be able to get up okay?" he asked.

"I guess I'll try…" I had visions of Percy having to literally lift me up onto the pegasus's back, which was nearly at the same height as my head.

As I reached out to place my hands on the pegasus's strong side, it shied away from my touch. I tried again and it just cantered nervously.

"Sorry, they don't much like mortals," Percy explained as he calmed the pegasus. "I know, I know," he murmured to it. "But you're gonna have to suck it up this one time, Blackjack."

"You can talk to horses?" I asked, dumbfounded.

Percy looked embarrassed as he explained, "Yeah, my dad's Poseidon, and since he created horses, I can kinda you know…communicate with them."

"Cool."

So with Percy's help, I climbed onto the back of the pegasus and wrapped my arms around Percy's waist as he instructed.

"You do _not_ want to fall off of here while we're up in the clouds," he promised. Almost as an afterthought, he added, "You're not afraid of heights, are you?"

"Ha! No way!"

"Good!" he grinned at me as he spurred the pegasus. "Then we can have some fun."

I saw Guido the pegasus shoot into the sky with Leo clinging to him, and Clara clinging to Leo. They were both screaming at the tops of their lungs.

"We'll meet you at camp then," Percy told Nico, seeming unconcerned for our friends as they flew around out of control.

Nico nodded solemnly and turned away.

Percy reminded me one last time to hold on, and then we shot straight into the sky so fast that the buildings blurred and it felt like my face was peeling back.

I whooped and leaned as far back as I could while keeping hold of Percy's waist and tilted back my head, loving the way the wind tore at my clothes and hair.

I glanced back at our roof briefly with a huge grin on my face and saw a solitary black figure standing at the edge of the roof watching us. Nico was way too far away for me to see his face, but I pictured his serious expression tinged with sadness at what he was missing out on.

But that was ridicules.

I turned back around as Percy called back over his shoulder, "Up for some fun?"

The wind was so loud I barely heard him, and I doubted he would hear me. So I put my mouth next to his ear and yelled, "Yes!"

I saw him grin and he hunched forwards, gripping the pegasus's black mane tightly.

"Hold on!"

We spent the rest of the journey doing dizzying loops and spirals and barrel rolls, free falling and climbing up impossibly high. We dove in and out of clouds and chased geese flying in their formations. I screamed my throat raw in pleasure and knew Percy was doing the same.

It was honestly, undeniably, without a _doubt_, the most amazing experience of my whole, entire life. And, if you ever get offered a pegasus ride, I seriously suggest you take it.

It was so exhilarating, I never wanted it to end, but of course, it did.

Because we were there.

_**thanks for reading and don't forget to review! :)**_


	8. Chapter 8

_** have nothing to say today except that I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians. enjoy and review :)**_

**Chapter 8**

**_Val's point of view_**

I'd like to say that as we descended majestically from the skis, I was able to gaze out across the land and tell you all about it.

But, the truth is, I can't. I was way too dizzy from all the acrobatics that had been performed in the air on the journey here, so everything was mostly just a big blend of colours.

By the time we landed, a large orange blob had formed a ring around us. I kind of figured that the blob was a group of people though.

I'm just gonna say right now, that I am _great_ at first impressions. Especially in front of lots of people. So just, don't be jealous of my skill.

Trying to dismount the pegasus, I realized that I'd never tried to get off a horse before. I thought it would be simple enough, but with my head spinning, I found it a _bit_ challenging. Instead of swinging my leg in between Percy and me and gracefully sliding off the pegasus's back like I meant to, I ended up awkwardly lifting my leg through the smaller-than-I-thought gap between myself and Percy, toppling off the pegasus and rolling onto my back on soft grass with an unexpectedly loud moan.

I heard a few people laughing at me, but couldn't even be bothered I was so dizzy.

I was staring straight up at the few puffy white clouds that had moved in as they slowly stopped swirling and melting together, when Percy leaned into my line of sight.

He looked like he was fighting a smile as he asked, "You okay there, Val?"

"Peachy," I groaned, pushing myself into a sitting position.

"Little too much for you then?" he teased as he offered me his hand.

"Nope!" I assured him as I grasped his hand and he yanked me to my feet. "That was wicked!" we grinned at each other for a second before I noticed Clara coming over.

"Nice dismount!" she laughed.

"Oh, I'm sure yours wasn't much better!" I joked and stuck out my tongue at her.

She shrugged mischievously.

"Dude! That horse is evil!" Leo complained as he marched over, picking grass clumps out of his curly hair.

Percy turned at the sound of his name and barked out a quick laugh when he caught sight of Leo.

"What happened, bro?"

"You're stupid horse threw me!" he whined.

"Smart animal," I mumbled, earning a chuckle from Percy, a giggle from Clara and a half-hearted glare from Leo.

"Shut up," he told me.

The pegasus whinnied and pawed at the ground. Percy shook his head and sighed, "What am I going to do with you two?"

"Well-" Leo started, looking eager to come up with a way to get rid of the pegasus, but a voice cut him off.

"So these are the mortals of the prophesy?" a man's voice mused.

I turned around at looked up. Walking through the few lingering campers was Annabeth, and beside her trotted a middle aged centaur with curly brown hair and a somewhat scruffy looking beard. It appeared it was him who had spoken.

Percy smiled at the centaur like this was all normal, which I guess here, it was.

"Chiron, meet Val and Clara," Percy announced, gesturing to each of us in turn.

Chiron bowed his head in a greeting, and I gave and awkward nod in his direction while Clara grinned and waved happily.

"Am I right to assume that everything has not been explained?" Chiron's question seemed to be directed at Leo, but it looked like he didn't really know how to respond.

Nico stepped forward (had he been there the whole time?) and answered instead, "You're right Chiron. We've explained briefly what was going on, but nothing past the basic existence of monsters, demigods and gods."

I noticed that as Nico talked, campers that were near him slowly receded, almost as if they were scared of a kid who was probably years younger than him.

Chiron nodded, looking mildly pleased.

"Thank you, Nico," even the old centaur seemed uneasy in Nico's presence. He turned his eyes to the loose ring of campers that stood lingering in small groups around us and announced, "You may all return to your regular activities. The five of you," he looked at Percy, Clara, Nico, Leo and I. "Come with me."

Percy strolled towards Annabeth who I must admit, way even prettier in person, and took her hand. They started walking after Chiron towards what looked like a large farm house with a wrap-around porch perched atop a hill.

I glanced at Clara, and she glanced at me, then at Leo. He looked unaffected by the seriousness of Chiron, so I decided to take that as a good sign. Maybe we weren't in trouble. Maybe he was just a serious guy-er-horse…guy…

The three of us started off after Percy and Annabeth, and I knew Nico was trailing behind us.

Leo and Clara chatted lightheartedly as we walked, and I started to lag behind. I half wanted to see if Clara would even notice.

She didn't.

I crossed my arms and scowled, deciding to take in the scenery. It was actually quite beautiful. There was a beach not too far away and rolling green hills with a thick looking forest and a canoe lake with a long wooden dock. Kids (campers? this was a camp) in orange t-shirts milled around and lots more were grouped together around different activities. I saw an archery range with a row of archers firing at targets, there was what I assumed to be a sword fighting arena, some type of rock wall that was shaking and spewing lava at those who tried to scale it, and what looked like a giant camp fire pit with rows of stone bleachers where banners hung from the back.

It was all pretty amazing.

"If you think this is cool, just wait 'till you see the cabins," Nico muttered from behind me.

I turned to look at him, but he gave no indication of having even opened his mouth. He just trudged along with his hands deep in his coat pockets and a scowl set on his face again.

I shook my head and turned back around.

"If you don't mind my asking, how old are the two of you?" Chiron inquired.

"Fourteen," Clara answered for me.

"Hmm…the same as Nico," Chiron mused in a way that made me think he wasn't even aware he was speaking out loud. "And just a year younger than Leo…"

"That can't be a coincidence," Annabeth reasoned.

"Perhaps…"

We finally reached the farm house, and everyone started crowding through the door that Chiron held open from the inside.

"By the way, thanks for lowering the borders, Chiron," Percy said as he passed the centaur.

"Oh, it is not me you should thank, Percy," his eyes twinkled in amusement as he looked down at Percy, and I could tell that Chiron was very fond of him. "Mr. D. was the one who lowered them. Perhaps you would do well to thank him instead."

"Er, you know what? I'm good."

Chiron chuckled and let the door swing shut as soon as Nico was out of the way.

"Come, to the meeting room," Chiron lead the way through the big house.

Turns out the "meeting room" was actually a rec room. Not quite what I expected. Everyone grabbed seats around the table, and I ended up in between Annabeth and Clara. Chiron stood at the head.

"So I understand that these two have already introduced two to our divine world?" Chiron addressed Clara and I, gesturing at Leo and Nico.

I nodded uncertainly as Clara shrugged and nodded beside me.

"Well…where to start from there…" Chiron mused.

"Perhaps with the quest?" Annabeth suggested. "Since they seem to be involved, I think it would be wise to explain that and tell them the prophesy."

"Very well," Chiron nodded. "Nico and Leo were chosen to complete a quest. There was a prophecy issued by our oracle vaguely describing a task that had to be completed by these two," Chiron explained. "Though prophesies are often unclear and we were unsure of where to start. Although it seems that with your participation, they will be able to get started and hopefully complete the quest."

"Should I get Rachel for the prophesy?" Annabeth asked, rising from her chair.

Chiron nodded and she jogged out of the room.

"Rachel is our oracle," Percy supplied. "She's a mortal like you guys, and she can see through the mist. After the Titan war, she became the host for the spirit of the Oracle of Delphi."

"The first one in almost a hundred years," Chiron agreed.

"You didn't have an oracle for a hundred years?" Clara asked.

"No, we had an oracle," Percy leaned his elbows on the table as he explained. "But she was kind of…a mummy…"

"_Excuse me_?" Clara exclaimed. "A mummy?"

"Er, yes…" Percy looked uncomfortable, and I briefly wondered why.

"Well, why was she a mummy?" she challenged.

Percy fidgeted and glanced over at Nico.

"It's not terribly important," Chiron soothed. "It is in the past, and she is now able to rest."

It looked like Clara was going to push the subject further, but the door opened before she could open her mouth again. In walked Annabeth and a girl with bright green eyes and frizzy orangey-red hair. The two girls were laughing together, but they sobered once they realized the tense atmosphere in the room.

"Clara, Val, meet Rachel, our oracle," Chiron introduced.

We both murmured hellos and Rachel gave us a crazy friendly grin.

"Hey! I heard you guys are like me," she plunked herself down at the opposite end of the table as Chiron, still smiling at us.

"If you mean being able to see through the mist, then…yeah…" I mumbled.

She cocked her head and regarded me a moment before a tiny, knowing smile turned up the corners of her lips. I thought I saw her eyes flicker over towards Nico, but I could be wrong.

"Rachel," Chiron interrupted. "The prophesy."

"Right!" she sat up straight in her chair and closed her eyes, breathing deeply. Everyone sat quietly, watching. After a few seconds, her eyes popped open and it felt like the temperature in the room suddenly dropped ten degrees. Clara made a choking noise and I pressed further back in my chair, trying to get as much distance in between Rachel and myself as I could. But Rachel's glowing green eyes locked on to mine, freezing me in place. She opened her mouth and rasped in a strangely reptilian voice,

_Shrouded in gloom from darkness past, you must work as one to break the cast,_

_In the midst of the mist awaits a funeral pyre, for the King of Ghosts and the Master of Fire,_

_With the gift of sight you shall prevail, and free all those condemned to jail,_

_Tempting the Fates to snuff out a life, a debt to be paid to the goddess of strife,_

_In the balance of two hands holds the fate of many, a crushing force that is both deep and deadly,_

_A vision of beauty and a sight to behold, the end of a life lived bright and bold,_

_The choice to shift fate and a sacrifice, for victory will come forever with a price._

We all sat in silence for what felt like forever. And, I don't even mean forever like, my-ADHD-brain-got-everything-messed-up-and-stalled -from-immense-boredness forever. I mean forever like, Rachel slumping forwards against the table in slow motion, breath lingering in the air and the second hand on the clock ticking about half a mile a minute, forever.

A chill ran up my spine and I looked over at Clara. She was pale, wide eyed and white knuckled.

Percy got up and went to help a drowsy Rachel sit up again. She blinked at us all as if she didn't remember where she was or what was going on.

"Well," Chiron finally spoke. "Do you girls have any input? Any interpretations of the prophesy?"

Clara and I shared a quick look.

"Umm, so, Fates snuffing out someone's life…deadly crushing force…death…sounds fun," I summed up, voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Hey, look on the bright side, at least we know it isn't the end of either of _our_ lives it talks about," Clara laughed nervously. "Neither of us is a 'sight to behold'."

Uh, oh. Clara was getting jumpy. She's not exactly what you'd call the bravest person…she's actually scared of a lot of things. So I'm pretty sure this quest'll be _pretty_ interesting.

Deciding to try and calm her down a bit, I sniffed, "Speak for yourself," and flipped my hair with a snooty expression.

She giggled and seemed to relax a tiny fraction. Because of that, I decided to ignore the weird looks given to me by everyone else at the table and just laughed with Clara.

It seemed that our joking had lightened the mood in the room considerably, and now people we chatting about the quest in much lighter tones.

After a few minutes of hearing ideas from people-mostly Annabeth I found-Chiron cleared his throat and waited for silence.

"Thank you," he nodded once we were all paying attention. "Now it's getting late and I believe our visitors should get a good night's rest before they set out on their quest. We'll set up places for you to sleep in the Big House," Chiron assured me. And then after diner, straight to bed to rest, and you should leave early tomorrow morning."

"But, umm, Chiron…sir…what about our parents?" Clara asked. "What are we supposed to tell them? They're already going to kill us, and if we-"

"Not to worry, my dear," Chiron interrupted. "I will take care of it," maybe it was the way he said it, or just the complete weirdness of the whole situation, but I had the feeling he wasn't going to "take care of it" in the normal way.

"Meeting adjourned."

Nico was the first to leave. He quickly stood and silently walked out the door, not sparing a parting word. Both Percy and Annabeth looked after him in…not quite concern, but with sort of protective, worrisome looks.

"What's up with him?" Clara asked as she stood up.

Annabeth leveled her stormy grey eyes and glared at her. And honestly, I couldn't help but glare at her too, even if she didn't see.

Clara shrunk back from Annabeth and backed up right next to me.

"What?" she squeaked.

"You don't know what that poor kid's been through," Annabeth accused, swinging around and storming out of the room.

"Sorry about her," Percy sighed and followed her out.

There was a beat of silence before Clara broke it.

"What did she mean? What has he been through?" she asked, turning to me.

"Why should _I_ know?"

"Well, you were with him before for a while…" Clara slowly trailed off as my glare intensified. She took a step back and paled slightly.

She was used to me being angry, or glaring, often at her, but I didn't usually get _mad_ at her. It was usually just annoyance I felt towards her, and I often pushed it away for the sake of keeping my friend.

But this time, I wasn't annoyed. I was mad. I was mad that she'd neglected me today like she did so often when someone more talkative came around. I was mad about how she was always so quick to judge people and how she was so close-minded. And most of all, I was mad that I seemed to be losing my best friend a little more every day.

So after a second more of my apparent bone chilling glare, I shoved past her and out the door. I slammed open the front door, attracting the attention of a few people who were playing volleyball, and stormed across the grass towards the woods. They looked like the type of dark, dense woods that you could easily get lost in. In other words, they were perfect.

Just before I stepped through the tree line, I heard a voice from right beside me.

"I wouldn't go in there if I were you," Nico drawled. "At least, not without a weapon."

I spun around and glared at him as he leaned against the nearest tree.

"Are you stalking me or something?" I snapped.

He scowled and crossed his arms. I noticed that he'd ditched the trench coat again, and I could see his sword hanging from a chain-link belt thingy.

"You walked over here, remember?" he growled.

"Whatever."

I flicked back my hair and glanced back towards the forest.

"So…why can't I go in there?"

He looked steadily at me and then glanced into the darkness.

"The woods are stalked for extra practice," he explained. "You go in there without defence and you're dead meat."

"Good to know…" I mumbled, frowning.

_There go my plans of hiding out from the rest of humanity for as long as I can. _

Nico cocked his head and regarded me with his sharp, black eyes.

"Why were you going in there?"

I considered telling him some crap about needing time alone to process all that was going on, and that I always chilled out in the woods to clear my mind. But the truth was, I was adjusting well, taking all this in stride, I didn't need any more time alone than I usually did. So instead, I decided to tell him the truth, because I knew he'd understand.

"I got sick of people," I muttered, glaring at the ground.

He nodded and pushed off from the tree trunk, moving into the shadows of the trees. When I just stood there staring after him, he turned around and looked at me from the corner of his eye.

"Are you coming or not?"

I quickly reengaged my brain after I realized that Nico was actually doing something nice for me. He was sacrificing his own solitude so that he could make sure I didn't turn into monster chow while hiding out in the woods.

I quickly ducked under a branch and made my way to him. Once I caught up, Nico turned and we started picking our way through the forest side-by-side. He seemed to be headed for a specific spot, so I let him lead.

We must have walked a good half hour in silence before we broke out of some thick underbrush and emerged in a small clearing where a babbling brook cut through the pine needle littered forest floor. To the left, there was a large, flat grey rock which was spot lighted by a gap in the canopy of leaves that jutted out from a small cliff about thirty feet nearly straight up that I immediately wanted to climb to the top of. To the right was one of the largest trees I'd ever seen, with huge branches reaching outwards twenty feet in the air. So naturally, I wanted to find a way to get to the top. To top it all off, the whole little grove was dotted with beautiful, multicolored flowers, and almost _glowed_ with a naturel, golden light.

I stood, rooted to the spot as Nico calmly made his way towards the rock. He unclipped his sword from its chain around his waist and settled comfortably on the rock, tipping his head back like he'd done so a thousand times.

I continued to gaze in awe at my surroundings. I was definitely someone who appreciated nature, and this was undoubtedly one of the most beautiful places I'd ever laid my eyes on.

I slowly walked towards Nico, my head swivelling back and forth to try and see everything at once. I hopped delicately over the little brook and spied a few tiny fish darting in and out of sight in between the thousands of pebbles beneath the surface.

I looked back at Nico to find him looking at me. There was no glare, no scowl, not even a hint of a frown on his beautiful face as he sat there basking in the sunlight and looking at me.

"This is beautiful," I told him.

He nodded and scooted over on the rock, inviting me to sit. I balanced on the edge uncertainly and he rolled his eyes at me.

"I'm not going to bite, you know."

"Yeah, but soul reaping isn't out of the question, is it?"

I moved closer anyway, leaning back comfortably against the cliff face.

"I spend a lot of time here," he mused, closing his eyes again and lacing his fingers behind his head. "No one else knows about it except the nature spirits."

"What do you do out here?" I asked curiously. I wasn't sure what to picture him doing as a pass-time in this little paradise. And I couldn't think why he would want to show it to me.

"Most of the time I just sit and think," He shrugged sleepily. "Sometimes I sleep."

I glanced up at the very climbable rock I was leaning against.

"Have you ever climbed to the top of this?"

He lazily opened one eye and regarded me blandly.

"Why would I do that?"

"Because," I scoffed, pushing myself to my feet. "It'd be fun. Besides," I grasped a jutting piece of the rock and jammed my foot in a little niche. "Don't you want to know what's up there?"

"Not really," he drawled, seeming not to notice when I started to climb.

"Well," I grunted from above him. "You're not very adventurous, now are you?"

"Whatever. Just try not to fall off that rock and die, would you? You'll give me a headache."

I wasn't sure what he meant, and I didn't really care. I continued scaling the little cliff, scuttling sideways and back-tracking a few times to find the best hand and footholds. After what I think was a few minutes, I hauled myself over the top, effectively scrapping off all the skin on my knees. I stood up, turned around and caught my breath as I surveyed what lay below me.

In the direction we'd come from, I could see over the tops of most of the trees, but there were a few here and there towering over the others. Some were dead, and some were split by lightning, like some crazy kid of Zeus's had gone running through the forest and zapping trees.

Looking to the left from where I stood, the trees gradually gained in height and density, as if it was all hundreds of years old. Which, it probably was.

Behind me there was a little break in the trees were the rock was, before it blended with the grass, and a thick layer of trees started up again.

I sat at the edge of my cliff and dangled my legs over the side, drinking in the beautiful scenery. It wasn't my home, and it didn't nearly compere, but sitting there in the crisp evening air, it was pretty satisfying.

My mind started to wander to my life before moving to Ottawa. I'd been born and raised in rural Newfoundland, in a little fishing community. When I was in grade four, my dad died in a fishing accident, and my mother and I moved to the mainland. I took with me my Newfie accent, which had faded over the years but was definitely still there, a love for the sea and being outside, and a bitterness that came with leaving the place I loved so move to some crappy, polluted, overpopulated city. Even after living there for six years, I still thought of Newfoundland as my one and only home.

I realized that there was a tightness in my eyes that I recognised well. Whenever I thought about my home, I always got mad. Mad at my mom for making us move, mad at my dad for going and getting himself killed, and mad at myself, for not having the guts to run away from my mother and go home. There were a lot of things I wouldn't hesitate to do-cliff diving, parachuting, and bungee jumping for example-but leaving my house and traveling across almost four full provinces by myself was not something I was eager to do.

I sniffled and angrily wiped at my eyes. They were dry.

_Good._

Slowly, I lowered myself back onto the cliff face and reversed downwards. I dropped lightly to the rock beside Nico. He lazily opened one eye and looked up at me standing beside him.

"You didn't die," he commented.

"Nope."

I lowered myself into a sitting position and Nico asked, "So what did you find?" he un-tucked his hands from behind his head and folded them across his chest, looking at me expectantly.

"Nothing much," I shrugged. "Just some more trees."

"Was it worth the climb?"

"Of course."

He tilted his head and examined me curiously.

Tired of his constant scrutiny, I snapped, "What?"

"You're just so…different from other mortal girls I've met," he stated mater-of-factly.

"Oh, really," I mocked. "How so?"

Nico looked away and shrugged, ignoring my tone.

"You're no Aphrodite kid, that's for sure."

I blinked. Stared at him.

"Excuse me?"

He seemed to realise how what he'd said could have been taken-and _was _taken-and stammered, "Ah no. I meant, you're, you know…down to earth and stuff."

I cocked my head at him, waiting for him to elaborate.

He just sighed and grumbled, "Never mind…"

I shrugged and settled down on the rock. After shifting around a few times, and hitting Nico once or twice, I was finally comfortable on the rock. But Nico was, of course, giving me the weirdest look.

"What?" I demanded.

"What do you mean, 'what'?" he asked incredulously. "You're lying half upside down on a rock with your feet up on the wall, er, cliff…whatever."

I shrugged and replied indifferently, "It's comfortable."

He sighed through his nose and muttered something I didn't catch under his breath. We stayed silent for a while, and I drifted in and out of different thoughts, none of them relevant what-so-ever. But after a while of sitting next to Nico, I found I actually wanted to talk to him too. So I asked about his dad.

He told me what it was like being a child of the underworld, about how he never fit in anywhere. And, honestly, I felt like I kinda related to his issue about not fitting in anywhere.

The more he talked, the more I realised that I really liked listening to him.

Pretty soon we were trading stories about past adventures. His were always more interesting of course, but he listened to me tell him about my childhood in Newfoundland, and even seemed genuinely interested.

Eventually, I noticed that is was dusk.

"Shit, did we miss diner?" I cried.

Nico looked up, startled. He glanced at the sky and then back to me.

"Yeah, but don't worry. We can grab you something," he promised, easing off our seat. "We should probably get back though, I didn't realise how dark it was getting."

I sighed and followed Nico back into the forest. The walk back was much more interesting than the walk there though. I could hear rustling leaves and cracking branches, and see large shapes weaving through the forest all around us, and of course I started imagining horrible, bloodthirsty beasts prowling the woods, waiting for the right moment to attack us. I quickly found myself crowding close to Nico. You know, the guy with the sword. Thankfully, he didn't object.

When we broke through the thick layer of trees, I was surprised to see how dark it really was. There were torches lit around the camp, some looked totally normal, but some seemed to be home to crackling green fire, like someone was burning a glow stick.

Nico walked me to the Big House and we snuck in past a dark living room type area with a dimly crackling fire where Clara was snoring lightly on one of two couches. Nico showed me to a little kitchen with a cupboard stalked with treats.

"Grab anything you like," he suggested, and did the same himself. "In the morning before we leave you should get a weapon or two, and then after breakfast we'll go." He munched on a few crackers before continuing. "You can sleep with your friend on the other couch and Chiron will probably wake you guys in the morning. I'll see you then," he nodded in parting and I lifted my hand in a half wave as he slipped through the shadows and out the door.

I made my way to the other couch in the room where Clara was fast asleep and found it equipped with a pillow and blanket, both neatly made up like a regular bed. I crawled under the blanket and stared up at the sealing.

I must have fallen asleep pretty fast, because the last thing I remember thinking was how weird it was that my mind was still lingering on Nico, and how I wished he hadn't left.

_**thanks for reading and don't forget to review**_


	9. Chapter 9

_**heey everyone! did everyone have a good Halloween? who went out trick or treating? I did! :) I got so much candy and spent all of today pigging out during classes :P anyway on with the story! and I forgot to mention this last time, but I really appreciate the reviews you guys! keep 'em coming!**_

_**disclaimer: I do not own any of these lovely people I am writing about...except Val and Clara of course ;)**_

**Chapter 9**

**_Clara's point of view_**

I watched with everyone else as Val stomped out of the room.

"Well…" there was an awkward silence as thick as cement until Leo blurted, "Hey, why don't I go show Clara around?"

No one disagreed, so Leo jumped out of his chair and took my hand.

"Awesome!"

He dragged me out of the room mumbling about how moody people were such downers.

"So where do you want to go first?"

"Ahh…" I glanced around and thought I saw something that might prove interesting. "Is that an archery range?"

"You bet," he grinned. "You do archery?"

I nodded and he led me down the hill towards the range.

"You any good?" he lifted his eyebrows expectantly.

"I am," I sniffed. "Does that surprise you? 'Cause you look surprised."

"Well," he shrugged. "Your arms look a _bit_ too tiny to pull the string," he grinned and mimed having difficulty's drawing an arrow.

"For your _information_, I manage just fine. Besides," I swatted at his scrawny arm. "You're just as scrawny as I am!"

Leo gasped dramatically, drawing his hands to his neck for extra effect.

"Are you insulting my scrawniness?"

I honestly wasn't sure how to answer that, so I just stared at him blankly.

He laughed and mused, "If I recall correctly, you were the one checking me out while I was missing certain articles of clothing earlier-"

I gasped. "Was not!"

"Not to mention that scrawny is _so_ the new ripped. And I _invented_ the scrawny." Leo bragged.

"Oh pu-_leas_!" I cried. "Checking you out? I barely even noticed you were a guy!"

"Hey!"

"HA!"

"But seriously, how can you even shoot?"

"It's _not_ that hard…"

"Yeah? Well I bet you I could shoot better than you!"

"Oh really?"

"Yep! In fact…" Leo grinned mischievously and cracked his knuckles. "Care to make it interesting?"

"Like, a bet?"

"Yes a bet, Blondie! Or are you too scared?" he taunted.

I turned up my nose and huffed, "Fine! I'll whoop your ass! But what do I get when I win?"

"You mean _if_," Leo shrugged. "You pick."

"Fine." I tugged on the tips of my hair and thought hard about what I wanted when I won. I wanted to make it something good, because I was confident in my ability to out-shoot this scrawny little mechanic. "That's it!" I cried. "When I win-"

"_You mean_ _if_."

"-I want you to build me a mansion up to _my_ standards in New York City right next to the biggest shopping mall there is."

I crossed my arms and gave Leo a smug look as he stared dumbfounded at me.

"That's totally ridicules!" he protested. "Pick something else!"

"Fine!" I huffed. "I want…a silver bracelet. There was this really pretty interlocking one I saw while I was shopping with Val, but I didn't have enough money for. I want one like that," I explained.

"Fine," Leo agreed. "But if _I_ win…" he gave me a devilish smile that made me kind of nervous. "I get to take you on a picnic."

"…A…picnic?"

"Yeah! For dinner. We can grab some grub and a blanket and have a picnic on the beach," he explained. He seemed calm enough to me, but then I noticed his hands fidgeting nervously behind his back, and I wondered, _Is he asking me out? _Because, that's what it sounded like.

"You mean…like a date?" I had to get some clarification here, or else it would end up being _pretty_ awkward if one of us thought it was a date and the other didn't.

Leo blushed and looked towards the forest.

"I don't know…maybe…"

_Aww, he's so cute when he's nervous! _

_Oh, umm, what? Did I just think that? _

Ok so, he basically just asked me out…what was I supposed to say? Did I want to say yes? Should I say yes? I mean, sure he was cute, but…oh, who am I kidding. I wanted to say yes. I really didn't care if I'd only met him that morning. He was cute and funny and…and I probably wouldn't have to go through with it anyway. I would totally win.

"Fine. If you win I'll go on a date with you this evening."

"Yes!" Leo did a fist pump and bobbed enthusiastically the rest of the way to the archery range.

When we got there, he deposited me next to an array of bows and told me I was able to choose from whichever one I wanted.

"I'm just gonna run up to my cabin and grab mine!" he called over his shoulder as he jogged off.

I browsed the rack and admired all the different bows there were. They were mostly simple ones which I figured meant that these were like training bows, and anyone could just come along and use them. But even though they were simple, they were beautiful. Long and slender and gracefully curved, some were silver and others were gold and some were a multitude of different colours.

I chose an especially beautiful royal blue and gold bow and tested out the weight. There was an old fashion quiver (you know, the kind that you wear like an over-the-shoulder purse) with matching arrows that came with it, so I slung it over my back and nocked one.

I aimed carefully at the closest target from where I was standing off to the side of the range. I let the arrow fly, and it whistled through the air.

I didn't expect much from the shot, because I was standing off to the side and had a weird angle on the targets, but my arrow impaled itself on the inside of the blue ring none the less.

_Hmm, pretty good._

Leo sure was taking a long time. I decided to move more into position and take some practice shots.

I stood at a little marker about twenty feet from the target and pulled back the string. I let it go and my arrow flew straight. This time, it hit inside the red ring, the one just outside the bullseye. I frowned and nocked another arrow, planning to send it straight through the center like I'd only done a handful of times before.

Just as I loosed my arrow, Leo yelled from not far behind me, "Hey, Blondie! I got it!"

My arrow went wide and embedded itself in the dirt behind the target. I spun around and pouted at Leo as he strutted up to me.

"Ready?"

"For someone who's about to lose, you're awfully cocky," I commented lightly. "Who's going first?"

"You can,"

"Fine," I sniffed.

Leo grinned and fidgeted behind me as I aimed for the bullseye. With a deep breath and as much concentration as I could muster, I let my arrow fly and prayed to Artemis and Apollo that my arrow would hit center.

I held my breath until the arrow made contact.

"Ha! Beat that!" I yelled and jumped up and down, clutching the bow to my chest and grinning like Leo.

My arrow hit just to the left of the bullseye. It was in the yellow, and I seriously doubted Leo could hit a bullseye, which was the only way he would win this and score a date with me.

_Silver bracelet, here I come!_

Leo didn't look in the least bit worried though, he just sauntered up to the line and lined himself up to shoot. He looked awkward and unused to the weapon. It seemed totally alien to him, almost like he'd never even picked one up before other than to make it.

That made me feel better. There was no way he'd even hit the target! I would _so_ win this thing.

Leo shot the opposite way I did, so I could see that had his tongue stuck out of his mouth in concentration, and one eye shut tight and his nose all screwed up adorably. No way he'd make it.

He loosed the arrow, and it did the last thing I expected. It whizzed straight by my arrow and stuck right into the bullseye. Seriously though! I would have been less surprised if the arrow actually turned around in midair and killed me where I was standing behind him. But it actually hit dead center. And that meant…oh no.

"Oh, yeah!" Leo hollered, throwing his hands in the air victoriously and parading around me several times while I stood frozen, staring at the target.

"What? How…I don't-" I spluttered unintelligently until I finally blurted, "_How did you do that_?"

Leo slammed on the braked and spun around to grin at me.

"I'm just amazing like that!"

I squeaked and ran up to the target in hopes that it was just an illusion or something. Maybe Leo's arrow wasn't the one on the bullseye. Maybe it was the…what was it called? The mist? Maybe it was the mist that made it look like Leo's arrow was there, but it was actually behind the range in the dirt.

I reached out and yanked it from the target in desperation and examined it in my hands.

Nope. Definitely not an illusion.

"So…" Leo slung his arm around my shoulders and leaned ever so slightly on me, wiggling his eyebrows and grinning. "I guess that means we've got a date…" his grin just got wider and wider.

"Oh, fine!" I grumbled, shoving the arrow at him and shrugging off his arm and marching away.

I picked up my discarded bow and tossed it back where I got it along with the quiver of arrows. Leo trailed behind me, plucking the other arrows from the targets and the dirt, grinning like he'd just won the lotto the whole time.

I felt my face heat up as he grabbed my hand and towed me in the direction I thought the dining pavilion was in.

"Great! We'll just snag some food…get a blanket…no one will even notice," he promised.

"Okay…"

When we reached the dining pavilion Leo motioned for me to stay put. Then he strolled up to the pavilion and disappeared from view. Despite Leo's warning, I couldn't help but creep closer. I wanted to see all the demigod campers together.

There were like, three marble steps up so that the floor of the pavilion was a little over two feet above the actual ground. I sat on the grass by one of the columns and peeked over the edge.

Leo was strutting up through the middle of a bunch of big tables filled with laughing kids from about ages ten to collage aged kids. He pointed at some people and grinned, and shouted to someone, "Eh, Jason!" and generally caused a big ruckus. Kids looked over, and some called out greetings, but most just rolled their eyes and smiled slightly before turning back to their meals. When Leo reached a table filled with big, burly kids and started talking and joking with them, I decided to look around more closely for Val.

I realized that the tables must be sorted by the campers' godly parent. So if Leo was a son of Hephaestus, those must be his brothers and sisters he was talking to.

And over there, the kids all decked out in tons of makeup and more pink than I'd ever seen in one place before must be the Aphrodite kids. They all looked plastic and totally fake, but there was one girl sitting on the end who caught my eye. She was really pretty, but in a naturel way. With choppy brown hair and no makeup, and only wearing jeans and a standard orange camp t-shirt.

I caught sight of Percy lounging at a table he had all to himself, and Annabeth who was sitting with a group of other kids who all had blond hair and intelligent grey eyes as well.

The boy who Leo called out to before was also sitting by himself near what I assumed was the head table, where Chiron stood in centaur form and a pudgy guy with curly dark hair and an extreme fashion _faut pas _sat_. _I mean, who wears leopard print like that anyway?

I continued to scan over the tables, and I noticed one completely empty one in the back corner. I wonder if that could be the Hades table?

_Well…Nico and Val aren't here…interesting…_

I looked back at Leo who was receiving pounds on the back and high fives and a few astonished looks from eavesdropping campers at surrounding tables.

_So much for no one even noticing. _

He grinned at his siblings and gathered up a ton of delicious looking food in a basket that he seemed to have gotten while I wasn't paying attention to him, and turned to leave. I scuttled back to where I was supposed to wait and stayed there until Leo came parading back down the little hill.

"Ready?" he asked.

"Does it matter?" I whined.

"Nope!"

He offered me his arm with a sly smile and I reluctantly took it. We walked for a few minutes until we reached the beach.

"I would take off my shoes if I were you," Leo advised, putting the basket down to unlace his boots. Apparently he'd changed since we got back to camp (I'm guessing while he was at his cabin? I'm not very observative so I didn't really notice) and was wearing a pair of ripped up and charred jeans with the red shirt I bought him and a pair of tan work boots with red laces. And not to forget his precious tool belt.

I unzipped my black boots and hopped around trying to pull my socks off. Leo laughed and steadied me when I hopped in his direction.

"Thanks," I mumbled.

"No need," he informed me with a cute smile.

We stuffed our socks in our boots and walked across the beach, hunting for the perfect picnic spot.

"We shouldn't go too far so that we are still inside the border," Leo mussed, gazing down the beach. It extended farther than I could see, and with the late afternoon sun glinting off the water it was really pretty. "I guess here is good?" he looked at me for confirmation, so I just smiled nervously and nodded.

His lips twitched and he put down the basket and pulled out a blanket to spread over the sand.

Phew. For a minute there I thought I would have to sit on the sand. And I was seriously not in the mood to have to dig sand out of my pants.

"So, this is alright?" Leo checked again.

I nodded kind of awkwardly.

Thing is, I'd never been on a date before, and I wasn't really sure how to act. And at the moment, I wasn't sure if I should sit, or help Leo set out the food or something. I ended up just plunking down at the top of the blanket and fiddling with my hands in my lap while I watched Leo collapse on the blanket beside me with the basket.

"So," he started rifling through it and talking at the same time, so his voice came out muffled. "I wasn't sure what you like, so I brought a bunch of different things. Let's see…we've got…burgers…" he pulled himself out of the basket and peered over at me. I wrinkled my nose and shook my head quickly. "Okay, umm…wait you're not a vegetarian are you? 'Cause if you are I'm sure I've got something here, but-"

"No! Don't worry, I'm not. I'm just not a fan of burgers." I assured him.

"Okay, good. Cause I would have had to run back to the pavilion and I would have felt bad about leaving you here," he sounded relieved, and not even like he was making up some crap like some guys do to try and sound cute or nice to their dates. "Anyway," he continued, diving back into the basket. "We've also got…some sandwiches, a salad, what the heck? How'd this get in here?" he pulled out a rubber ball about the size of a basketball, like an oversized dog toy. He shrugged and tossed it over his shoulder. "And last thing…cheese pizza. Anything you like?" he asked hopefully, looking at me with big brown eyes.

"I like pizza…" I offered.

"Great!" Leo exclaimed and grabbed two slices of cheese pizza. He handed me one and I unwrapped the saran wrap and tentively took a bite, testing the flavour. Leo took a big bite and chewed it happily, looking out across the ocean. I chewed thoughtfully and decided that it tasted really, really good.

"This is delicious!" I muttered around my next mouthful. "It tastes just like the pizza that my family usually has!"

He swallowed and grinned.

"Yup, that's how our awesome enchanted food works here at Camp Half-Blood!" he gestured vaguely in the direction of the pavilion. "Oh! That reminds me," he reached his free hand back into the basket and pulled out two goblets. "Drinks!" he announced, handing me one proudly.

I peered into it suspiciously and said, "It's empty."

"Well _duh_," Leo laughed. "Just tell it what you want to drink, and it magically fills up."

I stared at him skeptically for a minute before deciding to give it a try.

"I'm going to feel totally stupid," I announced. "But…coke."

I half expected nothing to happen and for Leo to laugh at me and say how stupid I was for thinking that talking to a goblet would get me a drink. But after a second, it was like the coke was being poured from an invisible pitcher and it filled right to the top.

"Whoa…" I breathed, examining the goblet from the outside and smelling the liquid experimentally.

I looked over at Leo when he laughed at me. He was lounging with his legs out and ankles crossed and one arm propping him up in an upright position. He was giving me a weird look as he sipped at his drink and watched me.

"It's not poison, you know," he told me with a smile.

I huffed and took a big sip just to prove that I wasn't scared to drink my strange, appearing-out-of-thin-air coke.

"Good?" Leo asked knowingly.

"Good," I agreed, taking another gulp.

Leo laughed and finished off whatever he was drinking.

I munched on my pizza and gazed across the ocean towards the slowly setting sun. It was the perfect evening for a picnic, and despite the slight tension in the air, I was enjoying myself. Leo was so sweet and funny, it was so adorable.

"So," Leo ventured, looking at me slyly from the corner of his eyes. "How 'bout we play some Twenty Questions?"

"You're on," I giggled.

Leo grinned and announced, "I'll start!" he tapped his chin and gazed at the sky thoughtfully. He shrugged and told me, "We'll start with an easy one. What's your favourite food?"

"Umm, maybe steak…or tacos…or mashed potatoes…" I mused.

Leo gave me a strange look and laughed, "Really?"

"What? A girl's gotta eat!" I cried defensively, causing him to laugh harder.

"Whatever," he chuckled. "I make some pretty wicked tacos  
you know, maybe I could make you some sometime."

I blushed and mumbled, "Maybe…so what do you like?"

"I'd definitely say tacos," Leo laughed. "I think after making them so often on quests I've really acquired a taste for them."

"How 'bout you're favourite animal?" I asked.

Leo grinned a little bit sadly.

"Dragons. Defiantly dragons. You?"

"Big cats or canines, I guess."

For the next half an hour at least we asked each other questions and answered them ourselves. They were funny, pointless questions like favourite colour, favourite mythical creature, favourite movie and favourite sport. We figured out that autumn was both our favourite season and that apparently I was way too easily embarrassed just because when Leo asked me what my most embarrassing moment was, I told him that it was the time I tripped on my own two feet in front of my whole class at school. Leo's was much more embarrassing, I've got to admit (walking in on your two best friends making out when you're supposed to be hanging out _would be_ pretty embarrassing), but I'm just a little more prone to embarrassment I guess.

"Oh, I've got one," Leo exclaimed, leaning towards me a bit. "Have you ever kissed anyone?" he wiggled his eyebrows suggestively at me, and I squealed, "_Leoooo_…" and pushed his head away, flopping down on the sand to the opposite side.

"Oh, c'mon, Blondie!" Leo laughed, leaning over me. "What is it? What's the matter?" he teased.

"Nothing!" I promised, sitting up to try and hide my bright red face. "But, no, I haven't."

"Hmm, me neither," Leo mused, sliding in close to me. "Maybe we could-"

"_Leo_!" I squealed, swatting at him.

He laughed and returned to his side of our small blanket.

"Relax, Blondie," he chuckled. "I'm just joking."

He stretched out on the blanket rested his head on his hands and crossed his ankles again.

"So, do you have any siblings or anything? Besides the ones here I mean," I peered over at him curiously after I got over my immense embarrassment. In fact, I'm pretty sure that what just happened was a serious contender for my most embarrassing moment now.

Leo's answer was strangely flat and un-Leo like.

"No."

I shifted closer to him and tried again.

"How 'bout parents? Do you live with your mom when you're not here?"

Leo stiffened and I immediately regretted opening my mouth. He seemed so different all of a sudden, almost fragile.

"Leo…?" I slid in next to him and fingered the hem of his t-shirt as I gazed down at his face, waiting for some response.

His impish features seemed to smooth out, and he inhaled deeply. As he opened his eyes and looked up at me, they seemed to shine just a bit as if they were wet…

"Are you ok?" I asked gently.

Instead of answering, Leo jumped to his feet and held out a hand for me, his tense, sad expression replaced by a somewhat forced light and teasing one.

"C'mon Blondie, I'll show you the forge."

_**thanks for reading! review! **_


	10. Chapter 10

_**hey everyone! it feels like it's been forever! i'm so sorry I haven't updated but I've been kinda swamped with school and whatnot alos, I was feeling rather uninspired, but I finally got my but into gear and finished up this chapter. so anyway I hope you guys enjoy this chapter! oh! and before I forget, I want to thank everyone who reviewed! especially those of you who reviewed more than once, I really appreciate it :)**_

_**disclaimer: I do not own anything you would find in the PJ series. ALL RIGHTS TO UNCLE RICK!**_

**Chapter 10**

**_Clara's point of view_**

"This is amazing," I breathed, staring at all the different items strewn about the room, all in different stages of assembly.

"Yeah, it's pretty cool," Leo agreed.

He watched me while an amused smirk played across his lips as I flitted from object to object. It was crowded, and I had to be careful not to knock things off of tables, and not to impale myself on the various weapons. The air was thick with the tangy aroma of motor oil and…was that tobacco sauce? Different mechanical smells drifted through the forge, all of them swirling together into one big mass that made my eyes water.

"So you spend _how_ much time in here?" I coughed.

"Eh, not too much," Leo laughed. "I kind of have my own…arrangements…" he picked his way over to me as he spoke, looking around at all his siblings' creations.

By the time he reached me, I was studying a map on the wall. It was old and looked like a battle map of the camp, with marks and pins placed here and there.

"What's this for?"

"It's from, er, something the cabin was trying to do before I got here," he explained quickly. "Hey, check this out, Blondie!" he reached behind me and picked up a little windup toy made from bronzed coloured metal. "Let's see if it works…"

He wound up the little bronze centaur equipped with a bow and arrow, and set it on one of the tables. Almost immediately, the thing jerked to life, and clattered around the table surface yelling, "Die, mosquito! Die!" it fired several arrows in our direction and Leo pounced on me and sent us both sprawling to the ground. I landed with a grunt, expecting Leo's weight to crush me from above, but it never came. I cracked open my eyes and saw that Leo was already crawling towards the tiny bronze figurine. He grabbed a hammer from his tool belt and swung it towards to bronze centaur, which was still yelling and demanding the death of flying parasites.

Leo's hammer crashed down on the figurine, smashing it to bits. Little pieces of bronze charpenal were scattered, and one managed to scrape its way across my cheek.

"Man, I thought they fixed this thing!" Leo cried, shoving the remains of the little centaur off the table. "None of those little needle-arrows hit you, did they, Clara?" Leo asked as he glared down at the little devil windup toy and nudged the pile with the toe of his boot.

"Well, not the arrow…" I murmured as I wiped blood off my cheek.

Leo looked over and his eyebrows nearly merged with his hair.

"_Mierda_! You alright, Blondie?" he came over and frowned worriedly as he swiped the tips of his fingers across my cheek more gently than I would have thought possible.

"I'm fine," I promised, blushing hard.

Leo seemed to notice my über red face, and he looked down, taking in the minimal space that was smushed in between our bodies. I saw a grin creep across his lips, even though I was trying not to look at him.

His fingers trailed lightly from my cheek down my neck, and the length of my arm. He intertwined our fingers with a sly grin, tugging my closer.

_Ohmygodsohmygodsohmygods!_

What was he doing? What was _I_ doing? I was just standing there, is what! Was he going to try and kiss me? Oh my gods, he was going to try and kiss me!

Okay, so…this was about the time when my brain melted into a pile of mush and drained down into my stomach, giving it a strange, heavy and sick-like feeling. Leo edged even closer, his breath quick and his cheeks red. His hand in mine was hot, and as he reached out and gently placed his other hand on my waist, and I felt it smoldering through my t-shirt. A brief image of Leo's hands burning their marks into the hydra's scaly leg flashed through my mind, but I found my arms playing traitor to my thoughts (yes, I _had_ regained _some_ line of coherent thought). I tentively reached up and slid one of my hands around the back of his neck and twined my fingers through his soft, curly hair. I found my other hand clinging gently to the red fabric of his shirt just above the top of his abs. I felt my eyelids flutter closed, and I knew Leo was doing the same. I felt his lips hesitantly ghost over my own, leaving a small trail of fire cross my cheek as his lips brushed across it as well.

Now, I'm not sure if I should be thankful or not for whoever walked in at that moment, because honestly, I was about one second away from ripping out his hair in my desperate attempt to reach his lips. But when I heard the mystery person do what sounded suspiciously like a spit take and start choking, I shoved Leo away from me in a panic and jumped back against the wall.

Leo _oofed_ as he landed on is butt in a puddle of grease with a dazed expression. But I could feel my cheeks burning, and if there is one thing I hate the most, it's being _so_ embarrassed that you feel like the world is turning upside down and your feet are strapped to the floor, so that you end up upside down with all the blood rushing to your head. And _that_, my friends, is _exactly_ how I felt.

But seriously, can you blame me? Trying to have your first kiss is awkward enough, but when someone walks in right as you're about to–well, _you know_, then that just adds a whole _truckload_ of awkwardness into the mix.

Turning to face the intruder, I folded my arms tightly across my chest and imitated one of Val's fiercest glares the best I could. I planned to go and shoot off my mouth at them, but at the last second, I realised that I really didn't want to be one of those super rude people that just go around blowing up at strangers. Like Val! Also…I'm not sure how much the person would have actually heard, because he was doubled over and clutching his stomach from laughing so hard.

"Ugh!" Leo moaned from the floor.

_Oh…opsie!_

"Gods, I am _so_ sorry Leo!" I rushed over to help him up, and tried (most unsuccessfully I might add) to hide the blush on my cheeks. "Are you okay?"

He winced and replied playfully, "Nothing hurt but my pride."

"I didn't mean to push you over!" I squeaked, barely getting the words out past the embarrassed blockage in my throat.

"Hey, it' no big deal, _right Jake_?" he called over to the gasping boy near the entrance.

So Jake was this little moment wrecker's name? Okay well, I guess I could also be called _partially_ responsible for wrecking the moment…but it was mostly Jake!

Leo looked at me and rolled his eyes in an absolutely adorable way at Jake, who was actually sitting on the floor trying to regain control of himself. Every time he seemed to calm down, he would glance over at Leo and erupt into a fresh burst of laughing and choking.

I did get one pleasure out of watching this kid laughing at us from the floor, and that was that with all the fumes in here–not to mention the _heat_–it was pretty hard to breathe properly at the best of times, and it was certainly difficult to breathe while laughing your ass off.

So laughing inevitably caused coughing fits, but this guy didn't seem to mind. In fact, he seemed to be almost enjoying himself!

"Dude!" Leo laughed as he bounded over to Jake's side, hauling him up while he coughed and hacked. "What's up?" I was amazed at how Leo could just act so…so…_Leo_ after what his guy just walked in on us doing.

"Apparently not much, compared to you!" Jake croaked with an I-don't-believe-this-is-actually-happening grin plastered across his sooty face.

Now that he was standing up-right, I had a chance to study him. So as him and Leo prattled on about how amazing this was (either they'd totally forgotten I was there or they just really didn't care), I took my time sizing up this Jake guy.

His previously bright red face was fading a bit, making him look less like a deranged chipmunk, and more like a regular human being. He actually looked a bit like Leo, with dark semi-curly hair and dark eyes. But that was where the similarities stopped. Although Jake wasn't much taller than Leo (a few inches at best), he was much better built, not overly bulky, but you could tell he was used to working with heavy things, and I could see his hands were calloused from working with them so much.

"Anyway…" Leo drawled, idling back over to me. "We've got places to go, things to do!"

"I hope our cabin isn't on that list of places to go," Jake snickered.

"_Okay_–" I started forward, fully intending to slap that smug smirk off his face, but I felt Leo's arm slip around my waist, halting my advance. "Leo," I growled in a very un me-like way, struggling against his strong hold. Apparently he had more muscle than I originally thought, because it was like having a chain attached to my middle that anchored me to a brick wall. "Let me go so I can smack him!" I wailed, desperately fighting against him.

"Well, looks like we'll be leaving now," Leo grunted, trying to restrain both my flailing arms with one of his big hands. With a huff, he squashed me to his chest and plucked my off the ground, carrying me out of the forge while I thrashed and kicked futilely. The echo of Jake's laughter fallowed me for a while.

As Leo waddled away from the forge, I ranted to myself in my head.

_How dare he do this! He is so going to get the biggest beat down I've ever issued! I'll go get Val and she'll beat him up! I'll skewer him with a random sword! I'll–I'll–_

"Leo! Put me down!" I shrieked, causing just about everyone who was in ear-shot to turn and gape at us as Leo carried me along.

"What?" he laughed as he passed a group of younger looking kids clustered around an older looking blond camper near the archery range. They all gawked at us. "You aint never seen an uncooperative little mortal girl before?"

The kids in the group shuffled their feet and some of them scoffed or shifted nervously. Obviously Leo's barbaric behavior was unsettling them.

"I thought you and Nico were on a quest?" the older camper called out to Leo as we passed. Leo–realizing that I'd given up struggling and was just hanging limp form his grasp–switched his hold on me so that I was tucked under his arm and resting on his hip like a football or something. Can you believe that?

"Yeah, we came back earlier with this one and some other mortal," he explained. I couldn't really see anything except the ground, but I could totally picture Leo rolling his eyes jokingly. "They're supposedly part of the prophecy, so we brought them back here to explain _stuff_."

"I see…"

"Yeah, so…anyway, I've gotta go and give Clara here a little talking to, so see ya!" he teasingly patted my back and then I assumed he waved or something because of the way he let go of me with one hand.

The next thing I knew, I was bobbing up and down with each step Leo took. Just as I was thinking that I had figured out how it felt to get motion sickness, Leo righted me and deposited me on a rock.

"Bad," he scolded. "Very bad!"

_Okay, is he seriously treating me like a dog now? After carrying me like a football while he leisurely strolled across half the camp he had the nerve to treat me like a new puppy who'd just peed on the carpet? _Well_. If he thought he could get away with that, he had another thing coming!_

"Oh, can it, Leo!" I stood up on my rock, towering above Leo. "You do not_ ever _do that to me again, you understand?" I jabbed at his chest hard with two fingers. He stumbled back a step and opened his mouth to speak, but I jumped down off my rock and advanced on him. With another jab at his chest, I threatened, "I will go find Val _right now_, and not only will she beat you up, but she will run you through with Nico's sword–which she will forcibly remove from him if she has to–and then I bet you she'll chop you up into a billion pieces and toss you right into Tartarus!" with one last good stab at his chest with my fingers (which were quite sore by now I might add), I realised that Leo was backed up against a tree.

His eyebrows were in his hair, his jaw was on the ground, and his eyes were so big I thought they might pop out of their sockets.

I put my face close to his and whispered as darkly as I could manage, "Do you understand?"

Leo nodded meekly, looking like there was something he wanted to say.

After a few more seconds of trying to intimidate him with my eyes (it probably didn't work that well), I spun on my heal–hopefully whipping him with my hair–and marched back towards where I thought the Big House was.

After a few steps, Leo called out, "Clara, wait!" when I kept walking (maybe a little less quickly though), Leo scampered up beside me. "Hold up, Blondie! I wanted to show you something! It, well…it kinda involved that map you were looking at…" Leo's steps seemed to falter for just a second, and he slowed his pace–and his words.

And I guess that was what made me stop. The random change in attitude had me, well…for lack of a better word, I would say it had me worried about him. Also, I was pretty curious about that map.

"Somewhere that has to do with the map?" I asked, turning around cautiously.

Leo was staring off wistfully into the forest, probably not realising that I was watching him. He looked so sad that I just wanted to gather him up in a big bear-hug and not let him go until he was happy again. And not just that fake smiley and cheerful façade that I noticed he had a habit of putting on, but the real thing.

So with a gentle smile that was more for myself than for Leo, I brushed my fingertips across his bicep and murmured, "Okay…"

Leo jumped slightly and looked back at me like he'd forgotten I was there while he was lost in sad memories.

He gave me a half-smile and told me, "Stay close, the woods are _dangerous,_"he danced away from me while making a demonic face, before he turned away from me with a cute little chuckle and strolled towards the woods.

I run up beside him nervously.

"What do you mean, dangerous?"

"There's monsters all over in there," he explained. "They're supposed to be kept as a challenge for campers to help work on their fighting skills, but I seriously think it might just to be to keep couples from sneaking off into the woods for some _alone time_, if you know what I mean," he waggled his eyebrows at me. "There's not much privacy in the camp. Just ask Percy and Annabeth!" he laughed.

I rolled my eyes at his constant dirty implications. Was there nothing else on this boy's mind?

Fighting the blush I felt creeping up my neck, I asked, "So, have you ever?"

"Ever what?" he furrowed his 'brows and glanced at me.

_Is he just playing dumb? Or does he actually not get it?_

It didn't _seem_ like Leo was messing with me, so I decided to elaborate.

"Have you ever, you know…brought a girl in here…"

Almost instantaneously, Leo's face turned as red as a tomato that someone had dumped in red paint and then injected glowing red juice into it. In other words…he was very red. But then again, so was I.

"Umm…no," Leo coughed, rubbing the back if his neck.

"Oh," I bobbed my head in response, not even looking in his direction.

Needless to say, we pretty much walked the rest of the way in silence after that.

After what was probably only about fifteen minutes, but what felt like absolutely forever thanks to the thick-as-heck awkward silence between the two of us, we came face to face with, well, a rock face.

"What is this?"

"Limestone," he answered.

As he stretched his hand out towards the towering limestone wall, I scoffed and breathed, "Thanks, tips!"

"Just wait a sec," he shushed me, waving his other hand dismissively.

I watched as Leo flattened his palm against the rock as I agitatedly tapped my foot. A heart beat after he touched the limestone wall, glowing red lines seeped out in an intricate pattern, slithering up the rock and eventually creating the luminescent outline of a giant door.

I stood ogling at what had just been a solid limestone rock wall as it swung open with no more than the whoosh of the air that it displaced.

"C'mon," Leo grasped my hand and led me through a gaping hole in the side of a cliff that hadn't been there a moment ago.

My legs moved mechanically, following Leo's lead. He walked fearlessly into the pitch black mass. Once we were a few steps in, the giant door silently swung shut, sealing us in.

Leo called out, "Lights!" and fluorescent light bulbs from somewhere above us burst to life one by one, illuminating the biggest, most amazing workshop I'd ever dream of seeing.

"Whoa…" I breathed, slowing my pace until I was at a stand-still in the very center of the room.

I spun in a slow circle, my neck craned upwards to take in the impressiveness of the place I was standing in.

Like, seriously. Just the fact that this place was hidden in a cliff and you got to go through a magical glowing door the size of a cross made out of school buses to get to it, totally blew my mind.

Then, of course, there was the inside.

It looked a bit like the forge, but imagine everything magnified like five times at least and still there was so much space that you couldn't even call it crowded, let alone as cramped as the forge had been.

Directly in front of me, there was a large, circular platform where something big and metal looking rested, glinting in the harsh light. Above it, there was an old banner that bore the words, Bunker 9 that was strung up under the rafters. Catwalks circled the whole space from far above, hugging the walls and criss-crossing the open air. A fall from up there would be really nasty.

Back on ground level, I saw tones of what were probably storage containers, most of them grouped in a corner to my left, out of the way of where people (probably just Leo if I had to guess though) would be working and moving about.

Work tables scattered about the floor were cluttered with various pieces of scrap metal or abandoned projects. Different blue-prints and schematics were tacked up on the walls, and more were littering the floor, peeking out from under boxes and tables.

I could see a little forge area glowing near the back, complete with anvils, welding tools and weapons (some in progress and some finished, hanging proudly on the wall). And next to that, the most impressive war ship I'd ever seen, just sitting there collecting dust.

The only thing, it was missing a masthead.

Out of everything, I found myself drifting towards the metal clump on the stage sized platform directly in front of me. What can I say? I like shiny things.

"What's this?" I asked Leo as I climbed onto the platform, transfixed by what seemed to be the huge head of a metal dragon. A statue perhaps? Or the missing masthead?

"Oh, that's my dragon," Leo's voice was strangely quiet.

As I neared the golden dragon head, I reached out and my fingertips grazed the intricate golden scales that adorned the dragon's head, glittering beautifully.

"Careful," Leo's voice sharpened, taking on a protective tone.

"It's beautiful," I murmured as Leo slinked up beside me, looking sullen–a very un-Leo-like expression. "What's wrong?"

"It's just–" he sighed, averting his eyes and blinking at the ceiling. Just like people did when they were trying not to cry… "Nothing," he amended, turning and walking to the edge of the platform where he took a seat and propped his head up on his hands.

After a brief hesitation, I followed and took a seat next to him. I'm not even sure he noticed me come, the way he sat there staring off into nothingness and rubbing at his mouth like he did.

"It's just that–" Leo growled, clearly frustrated. He dropped his hands down so that his forearms rested on his thighs, rubbing his hands together between his knees. He let out a puff of air and hung his head, shaking it slightly.

"Leo…" I scooted closer to Leo and placed my hand on top of his. Instantly, they froze. "Leo it's okay, you can tell me," I spoke softly, afraid that any loud noise might shatter his fragile state. I'd found that it wasn't often that he was this serious, and I didn't want him cooping up inside of himself again.

"It's just…Festus…" he must have sensed my confusion, or at least anticipated it, because he gestured behind us at the golden dragon head.

"The dragon head? You named it Festus?" I asked. Because, honestly, if someone was acting like their polar opposite and then told you it was because of a dragon head figurine, wouldn't you be confused? "What's that for, anyway?"

"Festus is the masthead for my ship," Leo sighed, rubbing my hand absently. "I–I had to take him down to do some repairs, and I…" he let out a deep sigh and shook his head dejectedly.

This was obviously a painful subject for him, but seriously? A dragon head? Even if he made it and it broke, that's no reason for him to be _so_ upset, was it? Maybe I should get more…_acquainted_ with the situation.

"So, you made a dragon head for the front of a ship…? And it…broke?"

Leo chuckled humorlessly.

"I didn't make him. Just fixed him up a bit. And, he wasn't originally a masthead…"

"So it was…what? A whole dragon?" I giggled nervously at the thought of a giant, fire breathing dragon on the rampage–supposedly Leo's _friend_.

But to my dismay (don't tell Leo!), he nodded.

"So, you mean…" I couldn't even finish.

Just picturing this was making me queasy. Fortunately, Leo understood what I was getting at, and he nodded.

"Yup. I had a sixty foot long, flying, fire breathing metal dragon as a friend."

I glanced uneasily back at the head and wondered aloud, "What happened to him?"

Leo winced, and I suddenly felt bad about pushing this conversation onto him.

"Sorry, you don't have to tell me…"

"No, it's–" he took a deep breath and let it out. "It's okay." He assured me. "It happened on a quest, a few days after I got here. We needed a ride to go north–to Canada if you'll believe it–and it couldn't go by land, so I had this…idea."

"I'm guessing it was a stupid idea?"

"Kinda. Well, actually yeah," he chuckled a bit and shook his head. "You remember that map you were looking at back in the forge?" he asked, slanting a questioning look over at me.

"Yeah. That one with all the marks and stuff?"

"Yeah, that one," Leo confirmed. "Well, when I saw that, it was when I was first explained about Festus's little problem," he gestured sadly to the dragon head.

I couldn't help but ask, "He was just a head?"

Leo surprised me by laughing. Something I had _not_ been expecting.

"No! He'd gone haywire, and the Hephaestus campers were trying to catch him so that they could dismantle him. They were gonna do it with…" Leo shuddered theatrically. "Acid sprayers. So of course, being the super macho and fearless guy that I am, I set out into the woods all alone and found him. After springing one of my siblings' traps, getting Festus out, and having him lead me here," Leo gestured to the bunker we were holed up in, "I fixed up his control disk and attached wings to him and we used him for transport on our quest."

There was a long moment where Leo stared somewhere far off, before he continued.

"About half way there, we came across this super high tech security system and got shot out of the sky. Festus got all but vaporized, and my dad brought his head back here so I could reuse it on the Argo II." Leo shrugged, and I could tell the story was almost done. "He was the best thing I ever fixed, the closest thing I had to family in a while, and I went and got him destroyed." He let out a deep, shuddering breath and deflated, shrinking in guilt. "I just always feel so frickin bad about it. Every time I take him down it reminds me of how I broke him…how it's my fault…"

I felt a wave of sorrow wash over me for Leo. He seemed like he was always so upbeat and optimistic, always cracking jokes and looking on the bright side, but I guess that was all just a front he put on to hide the pain. And what he said about Festus being his only family…

"Leo…what do you mean Festus was the closest thing you had to family?"

I felt Leo tense up, muscles contracting even more than they already were, and I bit my lip, wishing I'd just kept my big mouth shut. I was probably just making things worse.

"Sorry," I murmured, moving closer and laying my head on Leo's shoulder. "Forget I said anything."

After a few minute of silence, the rumble of Leo talking startled me out of the light state of sleep I hadn't even realised I'd been in.

"My mom died in a fire when I was young."

I blinked and straightened, looking right at Leo. But he refused to look at me, no matter how hard I stared. Finally I just sighed and resumed my comfortable position leaning against Leo. He slid his arm around me, adding to the pleasure I was already feeling.

I don't even think I blushed. I was so tired. I just yawned and zonked out, right there in Leo's light embrace. Not like there was anywhere better I could think of to be at that moment than wrapped up in a hot guy's arms. But ah…anyway…

A few moments late, I felt Leo shake my shoulder.

"Blondie, wake up. We should get you to bed. I think it's getting late."

Without even registering what he said (I was too out of it by that point), I nodded and grunted something that was probably incoherent. I'm pretty sure that's what usually happens when you try to talk without anything particular in mind that you're planning to say, anyway, right?

So, Leo led me back to the Big House as I walked in zombie mode beside him. When we reached the Big House, he brought me in and made up a bed for me on one of the two couches, complete with a cozy looking blanket and a pillow. By the time he was done, I had a very inviting bed I was ready to climb into, weather it was a couch or not.

"'Night, Clara," Leo smirked and leaned in–seemingly on impulse–kissing me on the cheek quickly.

Then he was gone. Out the door and to his cabin I guess.

In a daze, I turned towards my couch bed and climbed in gratefully, burrowing down until I was almost as warm as I was with Leo in Bunker 9.

I remembered at the last possible second before I dropped off the deep end and into a lovely, flaming hot guy/dragon/damsel in distress filled dream, that Val wasn't there. The other couch was unoccupied. I managed to crack open my eyes enough to find the glowing red numbers of the alarm clock that was across the room.

11:57 and Val was still out somewhere, probably by herself.

Hopefully she wasn't still mad…

_**REVIEWS! thanks for reading ;)**_


	11. Chapter 11

_**hey everyone :) so here's the next chapter and I was surprised to find out hat it is longer than my others it's actually 12 pages :) anyway thanks so much to everyone who reviewed my last chapter (hmm should I say "everyone" or "the people" because saying "everyone" sort of implies that a lot of people reviewed doesn't it?) and now we're getting on with the story!**_

_**OH! and before I forget I am working on a tiny (probably not so tiny really) short where val and clara are at camp (probably after the quest and they just like hand out there a lot o something idk) and they play truth or dare with everyone (real original ik but my friend begged me) so keep an eye out for it when I do post it though, I will mention it in the author's note in the next chapter I post on here so that anyone who wants to read it will know :)**_

_**disclaimer: all rights to rick riordan!**_

**Chapter 11**

**_Val's point of view_**

"Wake up, you guys!"

A light snapped on wherever I was, startling me out of my precious sleep of the dead.

"Wha–?" I toppled off the couch in confusion, tangled hopelessly in my blanket.

Groaning, I poked my head out from behind the cover of my blanket and into the harsh morning light. Apparently what my groggy brain had originally thought was a light going on, was actually someone jerking the curtains back from big windows I hadn't noticed last night when I came in here.

The culprit walked towards me as Clara moaned incoherently from the other couch. A pair of tanned legs disappearing into grey convers strode into my line of sight, kicking up dust that danced in and out of early morning sunbeams.

"Come on you two," the voice prompted. The shoes stopped two feet in front of me and one of them tapped rhythmically. "It's quest day."

I squinted up at the person towering above me, barely more than a silhouette against a bright background. But I could see the person's curly blond hair tumbling effortlessly over her shoulders, and her arms on her hips in en expectant way.

Well, if she was expecting me to get up, she had another thing coming.

Ignoring Annabeth's obvious impatience, I grunted and rolled over, covering my head with my blanket and burrowing so close to the couch that I was half under it.

There was a deep sigh, and the light _tap_, _tap_, _tap_, of Annabeth's convers as she went to get up Clara. She'd probably have more luck over there anyway.

I heard a rustling noise, which probably meat that Clara was sitting up, stretching and yawning and looking around in a sleepy daze.

"What time is it?" she mumbled.

"Just after seven," Annabeth replied. "You've got to get up and eat…"

I'm sure there was more, but as soon as I hear the words, _just after seven_, my brain went into shut down mode and I promptly fell back asleep.

Seconds later, my blanket was ripped off of me, exposing me to the chilly morning air and bright sunlight, and splaying me across the dusty wooden floor at the feet of a certain smirking son of Hades.

"Got to get up," he shot me a smug look as I lay staring at him blankly from the floor.

_Did he seriously just do that? _Was all I could manage to think at the moment. It was just too early! Why were so many people up?

"Did you hear me?" he asked, looking grimly amused as he crouched down and flicked hair out of my face, revealing the full force of my, you-just-woke-me-up-and-now-you-must-pay glare.

He snickered darkly, leaning back on his heels and watching me turn back over. I reached up onto the couch and groped around, searching for my pillow. With a victorious grunt that probably sounded more like I'd been dealt a blow to the ribs, I yanked it off the couch and curled up in a ball underneath it, covering myself as best I could.

It wasn't as warm as my blanket, but it would do.

In the silence that followed, I pictured Nico frowning and looking at me strangely.

_Pfft, like I'm the only one on this planet who likes to sleep in._

But the thing was, around here, it seemed I was.

I could definitely feel Nico staring at me now, and I did my best to ignore his penetrating gaze (and most importantly: not thinking of the beautiful eyes that were the source of that gaze).

Nico made an irritated noise in the back of his throat, reached down, and grabbed my pillow.

_Oh, no way is he taking my pillow too!_

Honestly, at that point I was thinking about turning around, kicking him in the crotch and running into a closet for some peace and quiet where I could sleep. What can I say? I'm a very passionate sleeper. Especially when I stay out until almost two in the morning (that's right! I looked at the clock!) with the very guy who was trying to force me awake.

But, luckily for Nico, I decided to just grab hold of my pillow as tightly as my sleep-numbed fingers would allow.

"Stop it!" I whined, twisting even farther away from him and bringing my pillow with me.

"Val," he growled, obviously irritated now at my stubbornness. "You have to get up and eat! We want to get out of here _before_ tomorrow, if you don't mind!"

"Too early!" I slurred (what do you expect? With my face squished up against the floor and all, I'm surprised I could even open my mouth).

"What?" he grumbled, leaning in close to me.

So then, being the obnoxious person I am, I decided to lean in so close to his ear that my lips grazed his skin and shout, "Too early! Go away!"

Nico scrambled backwards, cursing quite creatively as he did so. I erupted into one of the most painful laughing fits I can remember, partly because of the look on his face as he attempted to get over his shock, partly because of how he was laying on his back propped up by his elbow, panting and rubbing his ear, and partly because of the murderous glare he was trying to issue me.

After a minute or two, Nico was still glaring at me, and I was still face down on the floor, choking on laughter. The look on his face totally wasn't helping anything. He looked too much like a startled cat or something to look anywhere near intimidating enough for me to shut up.

Unfortunately, I didn't have to the foresight to anticipate Nico's next move. While I was…shall we say, otherwise occupied in trying to breath, Nico lunged forwards and grabbed my pillow and I thudded to the floor as it was ripped away from beneath me.

Next thing I know, I'm getting smacked upside the head by a squishy, yet surprisingly hard fluffy mass.

"Oof!" I toppled over from the unexpected blow, and I had the horrible feeling that my bedhead had just gotten even worse. "Dude!"

Nico blew hair out off his eyes in a huff and I aimed a punch at his chest. Just before I made contact, he grabbed my wrist and wrestled himself into a position over top of me where he had more leverage. He grunted when I kneed him in the gut, trying to grab my foot so I couldn't do it again. While he was distracted, I decided to reach up and grab a fistful of his hair and yank downwards–hard.

We wrestled around a bit more–each of us trying to get the upper hand over our opponent so they weren't able to inflict anymore damage. And don't go off thinking that just because I was a girl that Nico went particularly easy on me. He still pulled my hair so hard my eyes watered, and kneeled on top of my chest until I was able to shove him off, he just didn't punch me. But then again, I didn't punch him either. It was mostly grabbing and pushing, restraining and a bit of biting (it was him, not me!).

There was also a tiny bit of what I hoped was _accidental_ groping, and I did hit him in the face for that. It was terribly awkward. Especially when he cursed at me for hitting his "broken" nose.

"What are you two doing?"

Nico and I froze, and I was suddenly aware of how strange we must look. I mean, what would you think if you walked in on me and Nico, with me lying on my back and him above me, my foot planted on his chest, and one of my hands buried in his hair, forcing is head to one side, while Nico had his long fingers wrapped around my wrist, restraining my other hand. His free hand was holding the hair closest to my head tightly against the floor which was making it pretty hard for me to look anywhere but slightly sideways. Each of us strained against the other, letting out small growls of frustration every now and then.

So, what _would_ you think?

That we were freaks? Weirdo's? Or just a sexually frustrated couple? Hopefully it wasn't that…

"Annabeth," Nico choked, dropping his hands and sitting back on his heels, his face brightening to a nice cherry red hue that it seemed to keep returning to in the presence of Annabeth.

I took this chance and quickly kicked him in the chest just hard enough so that he toppled backwards and got the wind knocked out of him a bit.

"What in Hades?" he wheezed.

I noticed Annabeth stifle a laugh as I shrugged nonchalantly at Nico.

"I'm not heavy enough to sit on you."

With that said, I stood up, stretched and let out a long yawn, and walked past a glaring Nico and a baffled looking Annabeth and right out of the Big House.

Hoping I guessed right, I headed in the direction I thought the pavilion was in. Getting there, I sighed in relief when I saw it teaming with campers. Best of all though, was the sight of Clara sitting awkwardly with Chiron and a bored looking pudgy guy who, in my opinion, looked kind of hung over.

There had to be over a hundred campers, and I walked straight through the middle of everyone. Wherever they were–sitting at table and chatting with friends, or milling around–kids turned and stared at me like I was some sort of three eyed, purple skinned, banjo playing rhinoceros.

It wasn't particularly something I enjoyed.

As I slouched past a string of kids lined up in front of a burning brazier, I couldn't help but glare at them. Some of them shifted and turned around when my eyes found them, others simply glanced away, or turned back to their friends and rekindled their conversations. But I could feel them all looking at me from the corner of their eyes.

I was never one to be the center of attention, and I wasn't liking it now. Never the less, I marched up to where Clara sat nibbling on a waffle, plunking myself down on the bench beside her.

"Good morning, Val," Chiron greeted me with a polite nod of his head, but I couldn't bring myself to do more than grunt and give a small nod vaguely in his direction before my face came in contact with the table and I shut my eyes, wishing I could just sleep a little longer…

"Val," Clara shook my shoulder slightly, and I bolted upright, realising that I'd fallen asleep again. "Why is Annabeth talking to Percy and looking at you and laughing?"

"Er…beats me."

Clara pursed her lips and shrugged, returning to her waffle.

"So…where were you last night?" she asked, peering at me curiously.

I was suddenly reminded of my irritation towards her, and opted not to speak. So instead of telling her anything (like I would have told her I spent the evening with Nico anyway), I shrugged and scowled at the horizon.

Clara pouted and tried to coax me out of my comatose state.

"Did you eat here last night?"

I scowled harder and shook my head sharply. Whether she realised that I was pissed or she just thought I was dead tired, I wasn't really sure. But it didn't seem to faze her.

"Cause, I didn't!" if she was expecting me to ask about how she spent her evening last night, she was going to be disappointed. I wasn't planning on interacting this morning, especially not with anyone as bubbly as she was.

After a moment of my unwavering silence, Clara's thousand kilowatt grin dimmed. But then, almost as if it had never disappeared, it was right back in place and Clara was squealing, "I went on a sort-of date with Leo!"

_What? _

"We had a picnic, and went for a walk in the woods…" Clara went on about her evening. Something about an archery completion and Leo being super cute and sweet.

But my brain was still stuck on what she'd said about a walk in the woods.

_What if she'd gone near where Nico and I were? Is that why she started off by asking about what I did last night? Did she see us together? If she did there was no way she'd ever let it go! I'd have to go around for like the rest of my life with her trailing me and singing, _Nico and Val, sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G! _And that would be absolutely _horrible_! I will have to kill myself if she does! I'll–_

"–Almost kissed!"

With a start, I spat out the drink I hadn't even realised that I'd had all over my lap. I slammed the goblet down on the table and coughed the orange juice out of my throat. Clara laughed herself to death, and campers stared as I wheezed, barely keeping myself sitting on the bench.

She pounded on my back once, and I finally calmed down. Well. That is to say, I stopped coughing and choking, and I was able to breathe again, but my mind was racing about a hundred miles a minute.

_Did she just say her and Leo almost _kissed_?_

"_What did you just say_?" I croaked, glaring disbelievingly at her.

She tittered nervously and glanced around at all the people  
who were eyeing us warily. I saw her eyes linger on Leo a moment longer than was necessary, and caught the sly grin he shot her, making her turn away totally red in the face.

So I hadn't heard wrong…?

"Val?" Chiron interrupted my thoughts with a polite look of concern on his weathered face. "Are you well?"

I nodded at him, and campers slowly began to return their attention to their meals. Though there was a lot of muttering, and I thought I caught a few snatches of people's conversations about me.

"–Saw her and Nico together last night."

"–Sure she's not a demigod?"

"–Spat all over her pants. It looks like she peed!"

Deciding it would be better if I ignored them all instead of lobbing a goblet at them; I growled lightly in irritation and busied myself with trying to mop up the mess on my jeans.

"Oh, don't worry about that dear," Chiron soothed from the other side of Clara. "We'll get you another pair from the camp store," then he turned to one of the tables and addressed a camper. "Travis, would you be so kind as to escort our guest to the camp store? No need to pay for anything, it's my pleasure to cover it."

One camper stood up, and I looked at him. Immediately, I knew this short little trip would be torture. He had curly light brown hair and a mischievous smile that played across his lips. Even from where I was standing, I could see the little troublemaker's twinkle in his eye.

"Sure thing, Chiron!"

He sauntered over to me, casting a smug glance in the Aphrodite table's direction. I didn't see any of them react, and I figured that they'd just ignore him, but then I noticed that there was another table behind that one. It was occupied by about a dozen kids eating cereal and chatting merrily amongst themselves.

One girl with unruly brown hair was looking at him with a flicker of irritation as he swaggered up to me. He flashed her a grin before turning his attention to me and offering his hand.

"Ahhh…" I leaned backwards hazardously, sneering at his weird attempt at either humor or retarted chivalry.

But unfortunately, the guy didn't even seem fazed by my obvious disgust. With a dashing grin, he reached out and grabbed my hand, bowing down and kissing it lightly.

Before he could even straighten back up, I was ripping my hand out of his grasp and shoving him forcefully away, standing up myself as I did so. He stumbled backwards with a playful yelp, nearly tripping over his own feet.

"Feisty!" he laughed, and most of the campers joined in.

This guy…he was going to get punched in the throat. Very soon.

If there was one thing I hated more than guys who loved being the center of attention, it was guys who constantly brought the invisibles into the spotlight and mocked them. And guess what? This Travis guy obviously fit into both categories.

"I suggest you shut it before I shut it for you," I warned quietly, giving him a good glare.

There was a moment where he looked a bit worried, peering down his nose warily at me, before he seemed to realise that he was…well…peering down his nose at me. I was like half his size, and he was scared of me. Not to mention we were in front of the whole camp–which meant that all his friends were watching. And while most people were ignoring us up at the front, quite a few were still watching, waiting to see what the camp's jokester would do to the poor little mortal.

"Really?" he scoffed, his mischievous smile sliding back into place. "And, how are you going to do that?" he challenged, leaning down and looking me in my eyes, a laughing light dancing in his own.

"You want to know?" I shot, grabbing Clara's fork right out of her hand.

"Hey!"

I advanced on him, brandishing my weapon menacingly.

"I will shove this fork so far down your throat it'll come out your ass. And if you don't like that option," I said in a sickly sweet voice, backing him up even more. "I could knock you over the head with a plate and drag you down you the lake and drown you." I snarled the last two words, barely restraining myself from stomping on his foot and kneeing him in the face when he ducked down to reach his sore foot.

"Umm…yeah, let's _not_ do that," he squeezed out from between me and the pillar I'd backed him up against and darted away.

I saw him run back to the table he'd come from as I returned Clara's fork, to which I received an impatient, "_Thank_ _you_."

The Travis kid leaned in between a guy that looked _exactly_ like him, and some girl, whispering urgently at them. They were both laughing at him, as were the majority of people at that table. But after a moment of expressive hand gestures, some pleading, and obviously some whining, a knife exchanged hands, and my escort returned to me, tucking the knife into his waistband cautiously.

"Is that really necessary, Travis?" Chiron sighed, obviously he had been eyeing us.

My new little friend looked offended, but whether it was faked or not, I wasn't sure.

"Have you seen this girl? Of course I need it!"

"Oh, I didn't realise you were afraid of little girls, Travis!"

It was the girl I'd noticed before, taunting him. Of course, I obviously liked her right away. Despite the fact that she'd just called me a little girl.

"Oh, stuff some dirt in it, Katieroo!" he called out in the manner of someone who knows they're about to win an argument, and who just wants to egg the other person on.

"Oh, why don't you just–"

"Enough," Chiron sighed deeply, like he was used to this pair's antics, and surrendered a few of the gold coins to Travis, identical to the one that we used for the Iris Message. "Now go," he instructed.

"Fine. But my death will forever be on your head, Chiron," Travis huffed. "Let's go."

Grumbling and biting back curses, I reluctantly followed him through the jumbled mass of dining campers, and off through the grass.

I couldn't help but sneak a peek at Leo though as we passed by, and noticed him staring wistfully at Clara as she pushed her waffle around her maple syrup lake.

_Did she actually almost kiss Leo? Or was it like, Leo almost kissed her…_guh_! What is going on here?_

"Can you do me a favor?" Travis asked, eyeing me with distaste like I was some sort of wild animal carrying rabies.

"No."

"Can you just walk like, kinda in front of me…?"

_…Seriously? _

"And how old are you?" I demanded.

Travis puffed out his chest and narrowed his eyes, probably trying to up his machoness.

"I'm seventeen? So what?"

"You're like, three years older than me!" I laughed.

"So what? Girls are scary," he pouted, and I couldn't help but think about that girl from the dining pavilion.

_Maybe she's his ex? _

That's how they acted, anyway. So, maybe they used to be couple, and now they hated each other? Whatever.

"Anyway, we're here," Travis informed me, pulling open a door that tinkled pleasantly and holding it for me.

"Quick trip," I murmured.

"So, I can buy a pair of jeans here?" I asked Travis skeptically, peering at the low shelves of hoodies, running shoes, backpacks, water bottles and snacks orange t-shirts. There were two other campers browsing the aisles, and a counter stocked with candy bars and a cash register to pay.

"They're in the back," Travis bounded past aisles, pointing out things along the way. "First aid kits…crap food…ambrosia and nectar…jeans!"

He turned and looked at me, crossing his arms expectantly. I stood staring back at him. What did he want me to do?

"Well?" he prompted.

"Well, what?"

"Pick a pair already so we can leave!" he threw his hands in the air and shook his head like this should be completely obvious.

"I have to try them _on_ first!"

"Why?"

"_Why_?" I scoffed, looking for something I could get my hands on to whack him with. Not finding anything hard enough, I turned back to him and stood on my toes, getting as much in his face as I could and growling, "Because I have to see if they fit! No use in wearing jeans that are too big for me, you–"

"Travis, maybe you should leave," an amused voice interjected, effectively cutting off the string of curse words I was about to unleash.

Both Travis and I jerked out heads towards the interruption.

Of course, Nico stood there, leaning against the shelves, arms folded across his chest and grim expression set on his face. He looked so out of place in this bright store with all his black clothing. Even I didn't stick out so much with my soiled dark jeans and black tank top.

"Pfft, if you want her, man," Travis puffed, scratching his neck and giving me a weird look. "But she'd a real _biotch_. You know I think you guys'll get along good. You're both totally–"

"Travis," Nico snapped. "Leave."

Travis blinked.

"Oh…_oh_," a knowing grin slid into place on his lips, giving him a disturbingly dubious look. "You guys want some alone time, huh?" Travis leaned over and elbowed Nico, wiggling his eyebrows in a dirty way.

I scowled and muttered, "Hardly,"

Nico stiffened and shoved Travis away from him and spat, "Go back to Katie, Travis,"

Travis's face immediately turned pink, and he grumbled, "What's _that_ supposed to mean?"

Nico just shrugged and murmured, "Who said it was supposed to mean anything?"

Travis's face flushed even more, and he stuffed his hands in his pockets, kicking the ground in defeat.

"Whatever."

With that, he tossed the gold coins at Nico and trudged out of the store with a thoughtful frown set deeply on his face.

_Note to self: if you ever want to piss of/unnerve that overgrown twerp, bring up Katie whateverherlastnameis._

"Thanks," I muttered to Nico while considering which pair of jeans to choose.

Not sure…but I'm pretty sure he nodded. And smiled…

Spying a pair of black jeans that looked like they might fit, I snatched them up and asked Nico if there were any change rooms I could use to try them on. He pointed me to the back corner, and I roamed over, taking my sweet time.

Stepping into the stall and shutting the door, I stripped off my ruined jeans, slung them over top of the door and pulled on the new pair. They were a tiny bit snug, but the material was soft and stretchy.

_Perfect._

Grabbing my old jeans, I walked out of the stall and searched the aisles for Nico.

I found him in the first aid aisle, examining different sized packs intently. He had a black backpack slung over his shoulder that sagged emptily.

As I neared, he glanced over and quickly gave me a once over that I pretended not to notice.

I came to a stop beside him, and without taking his eyes off the shelves he asked, "What happened anyway?"

_So he wasn't there to see it? Good!_

Fighting the blush that I could feel creeping up my neck, I stared off to the side and grumbled, "I spilt some orange juice. It was totally Clara's fault."

Nico made a noise in his throat from beside me and with a start, I realised it was a little chuckle.

_So he thinks that's funny does he? Well I'd like to see him covered in juice and then see how _funny_ he thinks it is._

"Smooth," he shook his head slightly and crossed his arms. "You should probably pick up some stuff for you and Clara to take with you on the quest," he suggested in a way that sounded more like he was ordering me to do something than casually mentioning that it might be good if I did so.

But, _unfortunately_…he was right. Neither Clara nor I had a spare change of clothes (besides the new shirts we'd bought yesterday, but who wants to ruin new clothes as awesome as those on a quest?), nor did we have anything else we would need. So with a heavy sigh, I trudged through aisles, picking up different supplies. Toothbrush, hairbrush, toothpaste, a pair of jeans one size smaller than my own, two hoodies and four extra small t-shirts.

Weighed down by my armload of things, I stumbled over to Nico, who had moved down the aisle to where the chips were, and was examining them as intently as he had the first aid kits.

Without glancing up from the chip bag he was reading, he asked, "You need some help with that, or are you good?"

Scrambling to catch a loose article of clothing that was slipping from my grasp, I muttered, "Oh no, I'm _totally_ fine."

It's funny you know, I thought I'd laid on the sarcasm pretty thick, but apparently I must be delusional, because Nico just shrugged and turned towards the check out.

"Alright then."

Then he actually walked away. He left me standing there, and he walked away. For a moment, I stood there dumbfoundedly, staring after him. Then I began to grumble and curse him to the deepest depths of Tartarus, carefully picking my way across the store without dropping anything.

I'm not even going to begin to tell you how happy I am that there was no one in the store anymore besides the two of us, because I'm sure I would have died if anyone had seen what happened next.

Apparently, a box of something or other had fallen off a shelf, and lay–unseen by me and my bundle of goods–smack in the middle of the aisle. Because I am _just_ that awesome, I managed to step on the corner of the box and unbalance myself just enough to fall over into a shelf stocked with boxes of crackers and cookies, sending everything raining down on top of my head with a series of loud crashing noises.

After everything was settled, I sat in the middle of a pile of assorted boxes and clothes I'd picked out for Clara and I. There was a streak of black in my peripheral vision, and then Nico was standing beside me, looking duly impressed that I'd been clumsy enough to do so much damage in one go.

I looked up at Nico's face. I looked down at everything on the floor. And I couldn't help it. I started cracking up, right there on the floor.

"Ouch," I gasped after a minute or so, putting a hand to my head and nearly falling over when I tried to get up.

Nico stood with his arms crossed, looking totally unimpressed and thoroughly unamused by now.

"What?" I laughed. "You're not going to laugh at me?"

Nico didn't answer, which was perfectly fine with me. He just bowed his head and pinched the bridge of his nose and breathed deeply like I did sometimes when I was so pissed off that I just needed to take a second.

Continuing his silence, he stooped down and started loading things onto the shelf. I didn't help him, just watched. Once he was done, he stood up and tossed me the backpack, motioning for me to put mine and Clara's new stuff into it. So, as quickly as I could, I did so.

I guess I did it too quick though…

"I think you dropped something," Nico drawled as I strode to the cash, wondering how we'd check out without anyone there.

Honestly, I was kind of afraid to turn around. I could hear the riche amusement in his voice, and I knew whatever it was, it wouldn't be particularly good for me.

So, ever so slowly, I turned around. Well. I seriously wish I had just told him to screw off and left the store, dropped clothes or not.

Because can you guess what I saw when I turned around? Nico, standing with a huge, wolfish half grin, his lanky frame totally relaxed and radiating immense amusement. He had one hand shoved deep into his jeans pocket, and the other was held aloft, a small pair of black undies hanging from his index finger.

"These yours?"

I swear, if there was ever I time where I wanted to kill anyone, this was it. Swallowing my dignity, along with some blood from my lip where I had sunk in my teeth, I marched straight up to him, taking care to stomp on his foot, and snatched my underwear out of his hand. With that, I spun around and stalked out of the store silently, doing my best to ignore that jerk-off son of Hades' bellowing laughter.

The one thing that kept me from spinning around and killing him right then and there you ask? _Revenge_.

**_don't forget to review! I love feedback :) it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy on the inside ;)_**


	12. Chapter 12

_**hey everyone :) so I have chapter 12 up now and I appreciate the reviews you guys (it was mostly the same people as usual and I really love you guys! you know who you are ;) ) but I am hoping to get more for this chapter. especially since this is literally 16 pages long on word, which is longer than I normally do my chapters. I really hope you guys appreciate it and I am hopping for some new reviewers! anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter :)**_

_**disclaimer: I do not own the awesomeness of this, everything is uncle rick's (the master troller) except for clara and val!**_

**Chapter 12**

**_Val's point of view_**

"Leo!"

I marched up to Leo as he was getting ready to leave the dining pavilion.

"What? What'd I do?" Leo spun around and looked at me apprehensively.

"Nothing. But _please_ tell me you're good at pulling off pranks?"

"Oh, _heck_ to the yes!" he cried, getting exited now. "What do you need?"

"Wait, you're going to prank someone Val?" Clara popped up beside me. She gave me a disbelieving look and chided, "That's not very nice, you know!"

"Here, look through this," I tossed her my newly acquired backpack to distract her. This was some serious shit I was dealing with. "Leo, I need you to get me some things…" as I told Leo what I needed him to do for me, his devilish grin grew and grew.

"That sounds pretty good there, Val! I'll just go and get the Stolls to help," he grinned and fidgeted as his eyes darted around the pavilion, checking if the "Stolls" were still there, as most of the people had already left.

"Great," I muttered absently as I scanned the crest of the hill leading to the store. If Nico were to come right now, I was willing to bet he would figure out what was going on.

"We'll get all the stuff we need and meet you down by the dock, sound good?" Leo spoke quickly, backing up already and obviously wanting to bolt and get on with the prank already. "Wait," Leo cocked his head to one side and looked at me curiously, "Who is this for?"

"Take a guess…" I grumbled, turning around and making an exit that Clara probably would have been proud of if she'd actually been paying attention instead of rummaging through our supplies bag.

If Leo was getting all the things that would be needed for my little revenge prank, I would have to think of a way to distract Nico later…hmm…

"Val! Wait up!"

_Oh, look who finally bothered to try and spend time with her friend. Wow I'm bitter today._

Clara caught up to me and grasped my shoulder, planting her feet so that I was forced to stop walking with her. She ducked her head and panted dramatically. Obviously she was faking it.

"What do you want, Clara," I sighed.

"Well, what do you think?" she looked at me with a _duh_ face for a few seconds, while I stared right back at her, refusing to answer a rhetorical question. "Who are you going to prank?" she squealed. "Is it Nico? I bet it's Nico!"

I shook off the hand that had moved from my shoulder to my arm in an exited vice-like grip.

"_No_, Clara," I forged ahead at a brisk pace, headed straight for the lake where I would sit and come up with a plan while I waited for Leo. "I'm going to prank the Queen of England. Of course I'm going to prank Nico! I need _some_ type of revenge…"

"Revenge?" Clara cocked her head to the side curiously, and I realised that I'd let just a little too much slip out. Now Clara would be bugging me to find out why I wanted revenge on him. And I'm just putting this on record–you can even hold me to this if you want–there was no way that I was gonna tell Clara what happened. She'd just hold it over me and probably use it to goad me into doing things in the future. I could picture her now…_Hey Val, remember that time you totally embarrassed yourself in front of Nico? Wouldn't it be horrible if everyone we know knew about that too?_ That would not be fun.

So by the time she asked me, "Why are you getting revenge?" my brain was already in overdrive thinking of the most believable excuse to feed Clara. She might be a dumb blond, but she wasn't totally stupid. And she knew how to sniff out some covered up dirt, and didn't stop digging until she knew every least little detail.

So before the silence surpassed what was the expectable amount of time before she would typically presume that I was coming up with something to hide the truth, I had decided on the most logical cover-up story.

"Nico just kept cracking stupid jokes about me peeing myself. He wouldn't let it go."

"Oh," Clara nodded like this passed right through her bullshit detector, making me relax a smidge. But that we _before_ the sly smile settled snugly on her lips, and her eyes gleamed with amusement. "When were you with Nico? I thought you went to the store with Travis."

"I did."

"Well then…why was Nico there?"

"He showed up okay?" I growled.

Why did she always have to make everything so freaking complicated? She read too much in between the lines is what she did. It was just getting ridicules.

"Okay…whatever."

With an aggravated sigh, I quickened my pace, hoping to make it to the lake faster. I could see the dock, and I was seriously wishing I could just teleport myself there. Until we reached the edge of the dock, there was only silence between the two of us. And as I marched to the end of the wooden dock, the rocking of the wood and the water sloshing underneath was the background noise. But after I threw myself down at the end of the dock, Clara sighed and broke down.

"What are you doing here, then?" she lowered herself beside me and joined me in staring down into the delightfully clear blue lake water.

"I'm trying to think of a good way to distract Nico while Leo and whoever he's getting to help him set up the prank. Care to help me brainstorm?"

"Might as well."

So for the next fifteenish minutes Clara and I brainstormed good distractions. And actually, Clara was a pretty good person to come up with plans with. She just spewed out whatever crossed her mind, like she was vomiting up ideas in a completely uncensored kind of way. Anything from, Why don't you take him out into the forest and distract him _that_ way… to, Drop a brick on his head and tie him to a tree.

"What if I just sort of, bombard him with a bunch of personal questions? He always kind of evades those, both physically and verbally, so I should be able to keep him away from where Leo and whoever are setting up," I suggested with a shrug.

"No, no, no." Clara waved her hand at me dismissively and shook her head at my idea, and a sigh leaked out of me at what was bound to be totally obscene suggestion. "I think you should go up to him with a handful of mud, toss it in his face, and then when he goes and chases you? Lead him to a well. And then just push him into the well. And once he is stuck down there, toss in paint and maybe some squirrels and leave him there until the prank's all set up. Then, just come back and fish him out of the well and he'll obviously head right to the prank sight. Tada!" she grinned and did little jazz hands, like this was the best plan in the world. Which, umm hello! It wasn't!

"Not a chance."

"Why not?" Clara whined. She crossed her arms and pouted at me, hoping to soften me up enough to let her push Nico down a well.

"Has the puppy dog face ever worked on me before?" I asked her blandly as I grabbed a pebble and tossed it into the lake. I watched the ripples flow out across the surface of the lake, radiating from their central point.

"Well, no…"

"So you think it will work now because…?"

"Oh, you never like any of my ideas!" she huffed.

"I wonder why?" I muttered, not really planning for her to hear, but, naturally, she did anyways.

She stuck out her tongue at me and her eyes crinkled as she accused daringly, "You're probably _jealous_!"

"Jealous?" I snorted, falling back and resting my head on the rough wooden dock, letting the gentle lapping of the waves calm me until I droned tonelessly, "I wouldn't count on that…"

With a sigh, Clara dropped to the dock beside me. The tiny thud of her petite body falling onto the dock momentarily disrupted the stillness of the morning.

"It's so nice and quiet. I wish–"

"Yo! Blondie!"

Clara and I both shot up into sitting positions, almost getting rocked straight off the dock. I turned and saw a band of grinning boys totting different prank supplies parading down the dock, making the whole thing bob and sway dangerously. Leo was in the lead, and he had on his craziest grin yet as he tromped our way, balancing a stack of towels in his arms. Behind him stood the one, the only, Travis! Gag much? Like I wanted to see him again. He was carrying a few bottles in each hand, and sporting a mischievous grin. Next to him was the kid who looked exactly like him. They could have been identical, minus the fact that Travis #2 was about two inches shorter than Travis #1. This one was empty handed, but I'm sure he was going to be as much a part of this prank as anyone else here was.

"Ready?" Leo asked. And honestly, I didn't think his grin could get any bigger or more exited, but somehow, it did.

In response to him, I stood up and cracked my sore neck, making several people wince.

"Ready."

"There he is, go!" Travis #2, whom I have come to know as Connor, gave me a little shove in the direction of a black blob walking towards the only part of the valley I hadn't yet explored.

"Are you sure this'll work? I mean, how do we know he'll actually go _into_ his cabin?"

"He'll have to! Just trust us and go already!" Travis barked.

Clearly he didn't like me. The feeling _was_ mutual though.

I glanced at Nico, getting farther and farther away, slipping through my fingers. And I looked at Clara and Leo, who were already setting out across the grass in the same direction as Nico, but supposedly from a different location. I had no choice but to go now.

So, I swallowed my doubt and ignored the nagging feeling that Nico would sense my total lie and figure out what was going on before it was too late. I jogged up to about within thirty feet of Nico, and then slowed my pace to a foot dragging trudge. This needed to look as believable as possible.

When I slid up beside him, Nico gave me a wary glance and leaned away from me ever so slightly.

"Oh, you think I really want to be here?" I mumbled as I threw the hair out of my eyes with an angry jerk of my head.

"It's a free country," he muttered, keeping his dark eyes trained on the crest of the hill we were about to round.

"Whatever," I glared. He ignored me. "You're supposed to take me to get some stupid weapons, think you can suck it up for a bit and tolerate me some?" I mocked. For some reason, that earned me a nice scowl and a full force glare from Mr. Too-cool-to-acknowledge-you.

"And who told you this?"

_Who told me this? Who told me this? Uhhh…._

"Chiron."

Apparently I picked the right name, because Nico scowled deeply.

"Why can't Leo or someone else just take you?" Nico stuffed his hands in his pockets and glared at the ground.

"Because," I huffed, glaring off to the side as Nico glanced down at me. "Leo volunteered to take Clara off to get some weapons, and she not-so-subtly hinted to me to stay out of their little _endeavor_." I scowled bitterly at nothing in particular as I motioned to the two of them walking happily together towards the forge.

I could feel Nico's intense eyes boring holes into me.

"So, you got stuck with me?"

"Not like I know anyone else…"

Nico sighed, and I knew in that moment that I'd won. He believed me, and this prank would be pulled off without a hitch.

"Fine, let's go find you something."

In that moment, we reached the top of the hill we'd been steadily climbing, and I stumbled to a stop.

"Whoa…" I breathed.

What I was looking at was one of the most amazing sights I'd ever seen. And I doubt I'll ever see anything as impressive as it again.

Twelve cabins. Twelve main cabins were what drew the eye first. They were all different colours, and decorated much differently. They were arranged like a horseshoe around a central green with a basketball court and statues dotted around here and there. Campers in orange t-shirts were entering or exiting some of the cabins, and a few were shooting hoops. I'm pretty sure I even saw a few on a grass roof doing some gardening.

After I'd taken in the main cabins, my eyes roamed to the many others splayed out in rows at the bottom part of the horseshoe shaped ring of main cabins. The shape they all made together sort of looked like a Greek omega.

Directly to the right on the first offshoot of cabins sat a shadowy black one with green fires burning within braziers mounted to the walls. I guess that was Nico's cabin. It sure suited him.

A few others caught my eye as we neared; there was one with stones covered in runes and writing in a different language, there was one that looked like something the moon had bled all its moonlight onto, glowing the same pale colour as the moon did as it hung dejectedly in the sky during the day. Another one looked like some coral formation you might find under the sea. But I think the one I found most interesting (maybe it was because I was so freaking tired!), was the cabin only second last in its side row that looked like a pillow castle.

"This is…" I opened and closed my mouth a couple of times, and I'm not even ashamed to say that _I_ was actually at a loss of words for once.

"Sick?" Nico supplied as he strolled down the other side of the hill. "Awesome? Cool? Amazing?"

I stood gawking at the cabins for one more second before I realised that Nico was already down the hill, waiting for me.

As I jerked into motion, I muttered, "All of the above."

Nico lead me right through the center of the main curve of cabins, which gave me time to examine them all. Each one was totally different, which was cool. We passed an old, stereotypical summer camp cabin, the kind with peeling paint and a rickety old ceiling and holes perfect for creepy crawlies and different critters to fit through.

There was a red painted cabin that looked like I could have done a better job of painting it if I'd been blind folded and using a paintball gun while walking on stilts. That's just how bad the paint job was. To be fair though, it did look cool with the barbed wire and boar head hanging above the door frame. Its beady little eyes seemed to glare at us as we passed near the door.

There was one I couldn't help but look at (though I wish I hadn't!), one almost as bright as the sun–I swear. And as soon as I looked away, bright blue and orange after images danced across my line of vision.

There was also one cabin that was…truly horrifying. It looked like an oversized doll house. The kind with the perfect pink paint and white lace trim, perfectly gardened flower boxes gracing the white window sills. In other words, it looked exactly like the doll houses my grandmother from the mainland used to send to me at Christmas, the ones I coloured all over with permanent marker, kicked down the stairs, and took a hammer to more than once.

"What horrible thing do you have to do to be put in _that_ cabin?" it was like a train wreck, I couldn't take my eyes off it for even a second to look at Nico.

"You have to…be an _Aphrodite_ _child_…" Nico and I both shuddered simultaneously, turning our backs on the hellish cabin.

Nico continued to lead the way across the central green, past the statues and skirting around the basketball court. We seemed to be heading to a beautifully sculpted grey building with an owl carved above the door.

"Where are we going?"

Nico looked sideways at me from where he trudged just ahead of me.

"Cabin six."

"Oh, well thanks," I grumbled, glaring at the back of his head. "_That_ clears it all up."

Nico gave a dark chuckle that sounded nice. Is it bad that I suddenly wanted to make him laugh just so I could hear the sound? I know I've already admitted I kind of liked listening to him talk…so this was like, the same thing, right? Either way…we're moving on now.

Turns out we _were_ headed to the grey cabin (it was easily any architect's dream come true). But instead of going to the door and knocking, or even barging right in, Nico walked around to the back of the cabin, and stopped in front of an old, beat down shed.

"Umm…what–"

"Just be patient for once, will you?" Nico flicked an irritated glance back at me as he crouched down and grabbed the padlock as well as something from his pocket.

"Well," I breathed, moving to lean on the shed's door. "Someone's a little snippy."

Nico's focused scowl become even more pronounced as he glared at the lock he was attempting to pick. Not that I'm a creeper or anything–and I don't want you thinking I am!–but I decided to take the time and study Nico's face once more.

As I did so, I apparently began drumming my fingers on my leg–a habit I have and tend to do whenever I'm forced to stand or sit still.

Nico let out a long, aggravated sigh through his nose and slowly tilted his head so that instead of glaring at the so far unyielding lock, his dark eyes locked on my own and he muttered dangerously, "Do you mind?"

I blinked at him, totally up for playing dumb for a bit.

"Do I mind what?"

He scoffed and motioned impatiently at my hand on my leg.

"Oh, was I tapping?" I murmured absently, glancing up at the sky. "I didn't realise I was tapping."

I went back to tapping.

To his credit, Nico did ignore my insistent (not to mention horribly off tune) tapping. But that's not saying that he didn't twitch and break his original lock pick and glare at me so hard I thought he might actually succeed in killing me on the spot. But even then, I either stared blankly off into space or gave him a vague smile–the picture of innocence.

_Finally_, the lock clicked open and Nico yanked it off the chain, standing up quickly. For some reason, he seemed to be in a rush or something. Do you think he wanted to be rid of me?

If he thought he had it bad now, he should just _wait_ until later.

I moved behind him with a smug smile playing at my lips. That is, until Nico yanked open the doors and revealed the massive array of weaponry hidden inside.

"_Whoa_!"

I shouldered past Nico and dove into the pile of weapons. It was just beautiful!

I heard Nico chuckle from behind me as I sifted through the piles of weapons, ignoring the more formal and strange weapons hanging on the walls. Like, a mace? Seriously? Who was gonna use one of those?

I peered at Nico through the curtain of hair hanging down in front of my face as I reached across a ton of sharp things, stretching for something shiny that had caught my attention. He was leaning up against the door frame luxuriously with his arms folded against his chest, and a little smirk curving one side of his lips upwards. He was watching me–obviously with great amusement–as I dug through the pile of swords and spears and shield and bows like a kid on Christmas searching for the one present she wanted for herself.

Blushing, I slowly retracted myself from my awkward ballet stretch and turned around to look at Nico.

"What?"

The look he gave me then, all dark and mysterious and super attractive (never tell anyone I actually admitted Nico was super attractive or I will kill you!), I almost felt bad about what I was going to do to him later. Almost.

"You look ridicules," he told me, pushing off from the frame and stalking towards me, looking thoroughly amused.

"I do _not_," I protested weakly, tucking and untucking a strand of hair behind my ear self-consciously.

"Yes," he chuckled. "You do. Now…what type of weapon are you thinking of?" he stopped beside me and surveyed the mound of various weaponry. "Probably a sword, am I right?" he shot me a questioning glance, and I nodded my agreement.

He tugged at his chin thoughtfully for a moment, reached daintily into the pile of razor-sharp killing devices and apparently found what he was looking for. He pulled out a bronze sword about three feet long, weighed it in his hand a moment, and then offered it to me.

I reached out hesitantly, mindful of the small area available for my own hand, as Nico's already took up most of the hilt. I grabbed the sword awkwardly and Nico let go. As soon as he did, I scooted my hand into a more comfortable position on the leather-wrapped grip and considered.

It felt too heavy, the tip of the sword pulling downwards constantly. I shook my head and tossed it back onto the top of the pile. Nico furrowed his brow.

"Too heavy?"

"Just a little."

We both stared into the shed, Nico much more clearly than I did. Suddenly, he walked in front of me and crouched down near the corner, picking out another sword for me to try.

"I think this one should be better," he handed me the sword with a dull expression.

Either I was seriously boring him, or this kid had even less facial expression than I did.

I took the sword from him and was surprised by how well it seemed to fit into my hand, almost like it had been grafted to fit my hand, my size. My very own sword.

"This is…perfect," I murmured as I gave it an experimental swing. I twirled it round a few times, fending off and imaginary attacker.

Satisfied with its performance, I turned swiftly to face Nico. It seemed that I'd caught him before he could reassemble his mask. When I turned, he was looking at me with a much softer expression than the one his face usually held. It was one of fascination, of interest. At that moment, he didn't seem like he wanted my soul reaped, more like…I don't know. Maybe to ask me again where I learned to use a sword. Or just to get to know more about the strange mortal girl wielding the sword like a frickin pro in front of him (okay, maybe I wasn't _that_ good, but you get the point, right?).

But immediately, his face stiffened and the wall slammed back down. Maybe if I was someone more empathetic I might have felt bad for this poor guy who always hid his emotions, or maybe someone from one of those lame romantic books where the girl sees the outsider guy and decides that she wants to know why his is so cut off from everyone else. But, that's not me. So, without a second thought, my ADHD brain skipped to the next thing to focus on.

"How did you do that?" I asked Nico curiously as he shoveled more weapons aside in search of something more.

Without glancing up from his weapon-hunt, Nico mumbled, "Do what?"

Before I answered, I examined my brand-new sword. It was exquisite, with a luminescent double edged blade almost three feet long that curved ever so slightly into a leaf shape. The hilt was beautifully crafted, with delicate swirling lines crafted into the dark metal, disappearing under the leather grip.

"How did you find the perfect sword?"

Nico remained on the ground, rummaging for something for a moment. Once he pulled out a skeletal dagger, he stood up and handed it to me.

"I can sort of…feel the metal and stuff a bit…" he rubbed the back of his neck and glanced away uncomfortably.

"Oh," I looked at the foot and a half long dagger I had just been given, jagged, black blade, black metal hilt with a silver lining, bone fingers and skeletal faces frozen in eternal torment carved into it. "Cool."

Nico shrugged and turned towards the shed doors. We stepped out of the musty shed and back into fresh air and blue skies. Nico grabbed the padlock and relocked it around a thick chain he threaded through the door handles.

"I won't get like, offed for having taken this stuff, will I?" the thought was unpleasant, and I didn't really want to picture myself skewered and mounted up on the wall in the Big House like the different monster heads on display that I'd noticed.

"No," Nico and I rounded the side of the cabin as he spoke in his signature monotone. "This stuff's meant to be used. It's just that, er…Annabeth has the key…"

"Oooh," I bobbed my head awkwardly. Even from like, two feet way and without even looking at him, I could see Nico's cheeks turn pink at the mention of Annabeth.

I wonder how _Percy_ feels about Nico's little crush on his girlfriend?

"Anyway…I've gotta grab something from my cabin and run it up to the Stolls," Nico muttered grudgingly. "You can come too if you want, I guess…"

"Oh, umm sure."

I had to make sure this all went perfectly. And if that meant staying with Mr. Moody-pants over there a bit longer, then so be it.

As Nico lead us to his cabin, I had to focus on not bouncing up and down in excitement. I just couldn't wait to see this prank happen! He was so going to hate me after this!

I started drumming a beat absently on my thigh as we walked, and Nico glanced down at me weirdly.

"Again with the tapping?" he groaned.

I smirked up at him and replied in the brightest tone I could muster, "Of course! Because I know you love it so much!" I even gave him a sweet smile and batted my eyelashes for good measure.

Nico snorted and rolled his eyes at me. The trio of campers we were passing at that moment stopped what they were doing and stared at Nico. What, had they never heard the kid laugh before?

But, from the looks they were giving us (me too, I know!), they apparently hadn't. Nico just ignored them, he didn't even break stride. I, on the other hand, was apparently not blessed with the gift of indifference that he seemed to possess, and I glared at the three kids, two guys and one girl who all looked like they had just stepped out of a glamour magazine.

By the looks on their faces, you'd swear someone had just insulted their grandmother.

I shook my head as they continued to stare at us even after we had passed them. Did they not have anything better to do?

I even heard one snicker, "Did Nico di Angelo just _laugh_? Or was he just choking on his own death stench?"

As the other two giggled, I heard Nico growl deep in his throat from beside me. I looked up at his face and saw that his jaw was set and he was glaring straight ahead. And I just…couldn't help it.

I didn't even turn, I just called over my shoulder to the three wannabe Barbie's, "Maybe he was just choking on your cheap perfume!"

I heard a collective gasp, some outraged spluttering and some whining, but I didn't bother to turn around to see the mayhem of the three Aphrodite kids' (apparently I'd guessed right!) panicked frenzy.

"Nice!" Nico laughed, actually laughed. Can you believe it?

"Yeah, well…" I blushed and looked away.

"Man, they piss me off," Nico grumbled, shaking his head slightly. "They're just so…agh!" he stuffed his hands deep into his pockets and glared in their general direction.

I guess being best friends with Clara–a girl who rarely finished words or sentences properly–had me accustomed to understanding peoples' incoherent muttering.

And, being the helpful person I am, I decided to supply some words for Nico to finish his sentence with.

"Insufferable? Unbearable? Intolerable? Perhaps egotistical, shallow, self-centered ninnies, is the phrase you're looking for?"

Now Nico was definitely laughing. And people were definitely staring. Was it really that unbelievable?

"That about sums it up," he chuckled breathlessly after a moment.

And even if this makes it sound like I might…you know…_like him_, (I don't so it shouldn't) I found it kinda cool that I could make him laugh.

_Aww, look at us! We're finally getting along! Well, _I though with dry humour. _Not for long…_

We'd reached the Hades cabin. Time to get my prank on!

"You wanna just wait out here and I'll be back in a sec," Nico suggested–though it sounded more like an order.

I shrugged and glanced nonchalantly at the kids playing basketball as Nico ducked into his cabin. As soon as the heavy black marble doors settled back into place, I doubled over and busted up.

_He didn't even notice the rigging system! Perfect! _

Once I calmed down, I peeled myself up off the black marble steps that lead up to the double doors. Now, I just had to wait until he came back out of the cabin. What do with myself until then…?

I decided to take a seat in the dead grass in front of the cabin and busy myself with fiddling with my new dagger and examining Nico's home. It was all black marble and black rock with fragmented bones fused in with the door and almost every other surface. Silver studs dotted the doors and the braziers flanking the doors were made of human bones. There were skulls littering the base of the cabin and some grinning down at me from chain-link hooks dangling from the roof. As I watched, a black spider the size of my fist crawled out of the eye socket of a skull near my foot.

"Nico, hurry up!" I called as I eyed the hairy little creature crouching by my feet. As much as I liked spiders, I wasn't eager to see whether or not this thing was gonna kill me.

"Coming!" Nico's muffled yell beat against the door, squeezing through the cracks and reaching my ears.

It was time for phase one of my plan to be completed. _Mwahahaha_!

The door right of the cabin silently swung inwards, disappearing into the shadowy embrace of Nico's cabin. As Nico emerged–black on black–he looked totally unsuspecting, and _totally_ prank-worthy. But the moment he stepped over the threshold, the Stoll brothers' motion sensor kicked in, whirring to life and spewing yellowish goop all over Nico.

Nico stood frozen, a look of pure outrage morphing his features into a terrifying mask.

He was quiet for several heartbeats before he snarled, "_Stolls_!"

He dropped something from his hand, lurched forwards and flew by me so fast, a breeze lifted my bangs off my forehead, and pulled them after Nico for a second before fluttering back into place.

_Phase one, complete! _

I resisted my strong urge to fist pump and hurried after Nico, tucking my dagger into my waistband and trying not to slice off my leg with my sword. And let's just say, the look of surprise on my face at that moment, was _not_ forced what-so-ever.

I was watching Nico storm towards the people he thought were accountable for dealing him this sticky surprise, and I found it pretty difficult not to notice the grass wither and die wherever his black boots stomped down.

_I guess not everyone likes being covered in maple syrup. Oh well…_

Deciding to abandon my futile attempt at following Nico (who wants to trail an angry son of the Underworld around all day?), I took a seat near the shower building and waited for my victim to show up for phase two.

After I'd successfully embedded my knife in the trunk of a nearby tree three times (out of how many shots, I don't know, I lost count somewhere after fifty), Nico finally stalked up to the building carrying a new set of black cloths and a white towel.

As soon as I saw his sticky self sulking up the gentle incline to the low grey shower building I was staking out, I squeaked and dove into a bush, praying to several gods that he hadn't spotted me. Apparently, I wasn't a total fail, because even as I lay there in the most uncomfortable position ever and rubbed the elbow on which I'd landed on, Nico trudged right past me, his sticky close clinging tightly to him and his hair so goopy and thick that it stuck out in spikes on one side, and clung to his face on the other. He looked so utterly ridicules that I had to cease my elbow rubbing and clamp both my hands over my mouth to keep from laughing out loud.

Nico scowled and grumbled to himself as he entered the shower room, and I prayed that the Stolls had made sure the other few people were well aware of their jobs. If Nico's aggravated curses were any indication, I was going with everyone was in position.

A minute or so after Nico's shower head sprang into action; I peeked in through the door and saw kids fully clothed pushing aside the curtains of the shower stalls they'd been cowering in, all with wide grins and sly looks as they attempted to shut off their showers without getting wet.

After the last shower cut off, and the last of the Stoll's siblings drained out to door, I tiptoed into the white tile floor room with the red lacy towel I'd been handed by one of the Hermes kids.

I crept up to the only shower still going; steam pouring out and fogging up mirrors on the far wall. As stealthily as I was able to (and without giggling to myself at Nico's continuous string of curse words in English, Greek and Italian), I replaced the plain white cotton towel with the one I was holding. Apparently it was from the Aphrodite cabin, as made obvious by the plush red fabric embroidered with hearts and trimmed with frilly pink lace. After I'd finished with switching the towels, I grabbed his combat boots from the limp pile they were in underneath the little table holding all his clothes. With my other hand, I gathered up his new black V-neck t-shirt, just as ripped up black skinny jeans as before, and (_blech_!) black boy undies, and I all but floated out of the shower building.

Revenge would be sweet. There was only one thing left to do…actually, make that _two_ things.

Tossing his stuff into the bush I was hiding in before, I turned and sprinted up to the Big House, then back to the dock where I would meet up with Clara, Leo and the Stoll brothers.

"You guys!" I yelled ahead to them as I kept running. "Where is Annabeth?"

"Annabeth?" Connor (I think) cocked his head and looked at me dumbly.

"I think she tutors Percy in ancient Greek in the mornings," Leo offered with a shrug.

"Great! Where is that?"

"Probably in cabin three, but why do you want Annabeth?"

"And did you pull off the prank?" Travis poked me impatiently.

"Yes, and I want Annabeth to be there when he runs out, because if none of you dimwits have noticed, he–"

"Totally likes her!" Leo cried, clapping his hands once and snap-pointing at me with a huge grin belonging to a madman. "That'll make it all the more embarrassing!"

"Exactly!"

"Val, that is brilliant!" Clara giggled and grabbed my arm in excitement, shaking it a bit to emphasize her enthusiasm.

"Let's go then!" Travis exclaimed, breaking away from our little group and jogging back to the cabin area with the rest of us running after him.

We all crowded together on the tiny porch in front of the Poseidon cabin, and Travis banged on the flimsy little door so hard it rattled on its hinges.

"Yo! Percy! Annabeth!" he yelled through the door. "If you two are getting nasty in there, then hurry up and get some clothes on already, 'cause we're coming in!" with that, Travis barged straight through the door with Connor pushing him farther in from behind.

Taking the lack of screams and what not from inside the cabin as a good sign, I shrugged at Clara and plunged into the undersea-like cabin. I didn't even have time to look at anything before I was being shoved aside by Travis as he tugged Annabeth out the door by her wrist and Connor made sure Percy didn't attack his brother for man-handling Annabeth.

"What are you numbskulls doing?" Annabeth shrieked.

Whether it was in outrage or confusion, it was hard to tell.

"Just go with it!" Leo implored as he clasped Percy on the shoulder and gave him a reassuring grin. "Val's getting some revenge."

"Revenge? On who?" Annabeth asked at the same time Percy groaned, "This can't end well."

"Just wait and see–but _hurry_!" Connor instructed as he helped Leo propel Percy to the showers.

By the time we got there, the shower was already shut off. There was no cursing, no swearing, nothing at all to tell us that Nico hadn't already stormed off to his cabin and we'd missed the show. But then, the door to the building was wretched open, and it swung inwards and smashed against the tile wall with a huge, angry bang.

Even angrier though, was the sound of Nico's voice thundering across the camp, "_Val_!"

I let loose a delighted laugh as Nico stormed out of the squat grey building, turning every blade of grass and every flower within a ten foot radius into a wilting, grey piece of death. And seriously, if looks could kill, I would be chained to the sun with a vicious beast forever disembowelling me while a flock of angry harpies pecked out my eyes and someone chopped off each of my digits one by one, only to reattached them and start all over again.

And that was without the overwhelming power of his back attire and the shadows covering his face provided by his jet-black hair and deep, onyx eyes. This glare was entirely due to the intense angles of his pink face, the fiery hatred burning deep within the depths of his eyes, and written in every rigid line of his toned chest.

And when I said his face was pink? I'm sure it wouldn't have been right now if it weren't from the dye. Because I'm _more_ than absolutely positive that his face should be white as a corpse right now he was so mad. He was obviously past the I'm-so-embarrassed-and-mad red that usually coloured people's cheeks in situations like these, and was deep within the I'm-going-to-kill-you-in-your-sleep paleness that you don't see very often.

_This_ was what mad looked like.

It really didn't matter that his hair was an unnatural hot pink colour, courtesy of the dye I'd had the Stoll brothers plant in the shower head, shampoo _and_ the conditioner in the shower stall Nico used. And it didn't matter that his whole body was tainted pink, nor did it matter that he had wrapped the girly towel around his waist; the one I'd swapped his for earlier that barely reached past his mid-thighs.

People were starting to gather, but Nico didn't seem to notice anyone but me until I ducked behind Annabeth, who stood gaping at the son of Hades. As soon as Nico's eyes focussed on Annabeth, he froze and the pink tinted skin of his cheeks turned a bright, _bright_ red so that it matched his towel.

Nico opened and closed his mouth like a fish, and Annabeth giggled disbelievingly. Her eyes were wide and her fingers were at her lips, trying to contain the laugh that was obviously threatening to erupt.

Percy though, who stood beside Annabeth, didn't look so happy. He was frowning at Nico, scowling at Annabeth, glaring at me.

The rest of my little prank gang though, was busting their guts, practically rolling on the ground laughing. As were most of the people who now stood in a loose clump behind us. There was lots of laughing, and lots of dog whistles and cat calls. Throughout it all Nico just stood there, rooted to the spot.

_Finally_, someone called out the one thing I'd been waiting to ear.

"Hey, Nico! Aren't those your undies up on the Big House?"

Everyone turned to see Nico's black boxers flapping in the wind from where I'd hooked them to the weather pane four stories up. As soon as everyone saw this, a brand new wave of laughter washed over the crowd, and Nico became a new shade of red.

Seriously though, why didn't he just walk away?

"Val!" Clara gasped in between gut-clenching fits of laughter. "How did you–get–get them up there?"

I shrugged at her, a smug smile tugging at my lips. That had turned out much better than I expected.

I turned back to look directly at Nico, waited until he looked me in the eye, and mouthed one word: _revenge_.

**_thanks so much for reading and review for faster updates!_**


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